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Internet Taxation May Be Imminent
redfenix writes " Here, there, and everywhere, the words "Internet Tax" are being uttered with intentions of bolstering state budgets. It may be inevitable that products purchased on the net will be taxed someday. The real question is: can the fragile internet economy really help local tax economies now?"
It seems to me that most internet retailers are operating on such razor-thin margins that adding a sales tax would probably shove them further over the edge in to non-profitability.
No. The tax will be passed onto the customers. THe customers are the ones who are going to pay the tax, not the online retailers. Yes, this might indeed drive some vendors out of business because of the laws of supply and demand. The consumers will treat the sales tax as the part of the cost of the goods that they buy. Since the price goes up, certainly, they're gonna buy somewhat less goods online.
Thank you for your polite reply to my post. However, I would like to point out the problems I personally see with Libertarianism. Please keep in mind that these are not some kind of preconceived notions. Some of my views agree with those of the Libertarians, but I don't think the advertised goals of that party are consistent with its platform. To me, Libertarianism seems like a platform that favors private corporations to the extreme.
As an example of what I see wrong with Libertarian politics, let's examine the page about the education proposal. It is basically the voucher system that has been proposed many times; it also shares the problems of the voucher system. It allegedly seeks to solve the problems of poor kids being forced to attend a sub-par public school by distributing tax money to private schools on a voucher system.
The advantages seem obvious. With the current system, private schools are typically known for their educational excellence. The voucher system seems to be capable of bringing this excellence to every child. However, this is not so.
Imagine a school system based on vouchers. Suppose that you are a low-income family. You have a voucher that you may spend at local schools A, B, C, and D.
Schools A and B are very selective, choosing only the brightest kids from the best families that could afford such an education even if the vouchers were not offered. Since they are private, they can use any criteria they want to determine eligibility, including family status and income as well as academic potential. They will most likely reject your child, because they will not want to contaminate their prestige with poor kids from ghetto neighborhoods. Even if they accept him/her, they will still charge too much (on top of the voucher) to be affordable.
School C is for the middle class. It is fairly large, and many children go there; it is comparable to a today's mid-to-upper-level public school. However, it has to charge a fee of $2000/year per student to deliver a decent educational experience. Remember, it does not get as much funding as a typical public school. Your poor family cannot afford this extra expense. Thus, your only option is school D.
School D is a mid-size school, composed mostly of poor students from ghettoish urban neighborhoods. It is privately run. It does not have enough teachers, and the ones that it does have are inexperienced, underpaid, and overworked. Many students who go to this school have problems. Unlike today's public schools, school D does not have significant funding. Furthermore, it is being run for profit, and 30% of the voucher money goes right into the pocket of a rich local businessman. Since there is no Dept. of Education, virtually nobody enforces minimum standards, develops the cirriculum, or oversees this school. Many of its graduates are unable to read and write, and none go on to college. However, you have to send your child to this school, because none of the others will take him/her.
This would be a typical scenario of a voucher-based school system. As you can see, it causes much more problems than it solves. However, Libertarians propose similar systems for healthcare, law enforcement, the justice system, and all kinds of other things.
As you can see, this system would heavily favor the rich and the upper classes and significantly hurt the lower classes. Negligible benefits may be provided to the middle class. Such a divisive system would propel any country that adopted it back into the middle ages, when the system of class division permeated every pore of society.
Although you would be paying slightly fewer taxes to the government, you would spend much more on the things the government normally gives back to you. No, the "corrupt politicians" don't magically suck up all the money they get. Probably around 95% of it is given back to you through direct and indirect benefits.
Also, I would suggest reading a book about the Great Depression. Before and during the depression, welfare was provided by private charities, exactly as you propose. It did not work very well; poverty was rampant and welfare money were scarce. The Depression was solved only through government intervention and direct government investment in the population through taxes.
In short, my beef with Libertarianism is that it aims to give everyone the same responsibilities. Do you think that a person with $50 million/yr income should pay as much/little for healthcare as a person with $10,000/yr income? Congratulations, you're a Libertarian.
Anyway, I do not want this rant to be insulting or degrading to you or your beliefs; I'm just trying to politely explain my disagreement. Please reply, as I'm genuinely interested in your take on this. Keep in mind that I'm not interested in starting flamewars, so don't assume I'm just trolling.
Real example from about 15 years ago:
One of the major aerospace companies wanted to build a big new plant in Palmdale CA (one of the most economically-depressed areas in all of California), where they already own a major swath of bare ground. City of Palmdale said, "Sure thing! Just cough up this $14,000 application fee, and we'll discuss it."
Aerospace company said "Fuck you very much" and dropped the whole idea; instead, they renovated an existing plant they owned in Atlanta.
Palmdale lost out on an estimated 25,000 long-term jobs that the area desperately needed, not to mention all the fresh tax revenue that would have been paid not only by those workers, but also by the increased business infrastructure required to support them (grocery stores, etc.), plus all the immediate construction jobs that would have come from building the new facility. All because the city got greedy for a little income up front, instead of waiting for a LOT of income over the long haul.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?