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Wisconsin Passes Digital Download Tax
McGruber writes with news that the State of Wisconsin has passed legislation to extend sales tax to digital downloads. The new law will go into effect on October 1st. Estimates suggest that the 5% tax on "downloads of music, games, books, ring tones and other video entertainment" will bring in $6.7 million annually. "[Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle] has been fighting for the change for years. He and other state officials say it is a matter of fairness: Internet vendors shouldn't have a tax-exempt advantage over Wisconsin's brick-and-mortar retail stores." Similar legislation has been proposed in North Carolina, and we've previously discussed New York's foray into taxing sales made online in addition to downloaded purchases.
In addition to this, the current legislature wants to increase the state sales tax another 0.5%, add a tax to car insurance sales and put toll booths on the Interstate. This after they voted themselves a 5.5% wage increase.
Tax is a zero sum game
negative ghostrider - a tax involves a middleman, who involves an ever growing support structure, all of whom must be paid via tax, and who does not make decisions based on a profit perspective, but on a position of influencing a vote for him. That which is not profitable but is paid for regardless because of edict will not have competitive pressure for improvement. It will eventually cost more than an alternative that required continuous improvement to survive in a competitive environment. Anything that costs more than is necessary, espcially that which is legislated to exist and so has little incentive to be withdrawn because *voters* become dependent on it, draws away the ability to create and improve everything else, from stem cells to flying cars.
Tax is not zero sum - it is a negative use of money. It should be kept to those minimal actions necessary for the survival of a society - like the Constitution envisioned.
Not sure why this was downranked, but I'll try to explain why Anon. Coward is correct in his thinking, to a certain point at least.
If you get a refund, you'll get exactly what you would've have spent when you initially paid your taxes and had withholding's taken out. In other words, it's like the government was saving your money for you without paying interest like a bank would do.
If, however, you owe money, that means you got to keep it in the bank or put it into some kind of investment, where it could grow grow. When it comes time to pay owed taxes, whatever interest or growth that money accrued is yours.
"We have exactly as much freedom as we are willing to demand and as we can defend."
Large businesses like Apple or Amazon, which do such a large amount of online business, will probably end up stopping all operations in that state.
Yeah right. Apple's going to close down all its retail stores in a state (which bring in plenty of revenue) because of a tax on digital downloads. Economics isn't your strong point, is it?
... and then they built the supercollider.