Telecommuters May Owe Extra State Taxes

marct22 writes "According to Cnet News, the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by a Tennessee programmer who was forced to pay extra taxes because he was telecommuting to a job in New York. Apparently he worked in NY 25% of the time, which he didn't argue about, but the other 75% of the time he worked from home in Tennessee, which doesn't have income taxes. Also, it appears that right now, for those of us who live in one state and telecommute in another may be doubly taxed if both have income tax. There is a Telecommuter Tax Fairness Act in the Senate, but it has not emerged from committee so has not been voted on."

Comments

"Telecommuting" is a Such a Stupid Word

[Rude Turnip]

What do you expect to happen in a technologically naive legal system when you use a term that implies you're "going" to a location, even though you really aren't?

Re:Income Tax

[LeonGeeste]

Of course not. There are still planets to discover, and previously-though-useless things to be discovered as useful (oil used to be a nuisance, now it's money). Even if you want to focus on land on earth*, recall that "land" in the sense that Georgists use the term, is economic land, i.e., all nature-given material and opportunities external to the human body. So they want to auction oil extraction rights, for example. That is, if you discover oil, the state seizes it, auctions it, and gives the proceeds to everyone in equal shares. Thus, you have pretty much no incentive to "find new land".

If in the 1400's, Georgism had been implemented, people would be less enthusiastic about finding a new continent, since someone would collect its rent.

*This is actually an interesting point for Georgists. You could concede that "we all own the earth (but nothing outside)" and then, once space colonization proceeds, their policies become less and less relevant.