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Massachusetts Set To Repeal Controversial IT Services Tax
Nerval's Lobster writes "Massachusetts lawmakers have agreed to repeal a six-week-old tax on computer services that generated such outrage that even the governor who proposed the tax in January now opposes it. The 6.25 percent sales tax on 'computer system design services' was proposed by Gov. Deval Patrick in January, but got little notice before it was slipped in mid-July into a $500 million supplementary funding bill meant to pay for improvements in the state's public transportation system. It was passed by the legislature with almost no debate, was signed into law by the governor with little public outrage, and went into effect – theoretically – July 31. IT businesses in the state used social media, business associations and angry letters to both lawmakers and local media to describe problems with the tax and show their opposition. Confusion over what qualifies as a 'computer system design service' and how to actually implement the tax – which was supposed to generate $161 million in revenue for the state – has been such a challenge to implement that the state has yet to collect a dime. The main logistical problem is figuring out what is covered and what isn't: data access, data processing and 'information services,' for example, are not taxed, which exempts most hosting, cloud, outsourcing and remote-access monitoring or security services. Democratic leaders announced Sept. 12 they would support repeal of the tax, which could be completed within weeks. 'It is now evident that the impact of the tax is broader than any of us ever anticipated or intended,' according to Mass. Senate President Therese Murray at a press conference Sept. 12."
(see subject)
"Idiots make laws they know nothing about, without doing any research into the possible consequences. Film at 11."
"So after all this, you make my case for me. To end this stalemate, you must die..."
Death and Taxes. Two things you can always rely on.
Oh, and more NSA spying.
Death, Taxes and NSA spying. Three things you can always rely on.
I swear, the way laws get passed in this country is like pushing any commit from a developer straight into production based on its commit message, without even a code review process.
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
They imposed a sales tax on "computer services" that created such outrage, it was repealed before it even went into effect.
"Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
They did -- they predicted it would generate $161 million in revenue. The problem is, they studiously overlooked any *other* effects, like driving all technology companies out of Massachusetts and into neighboring states that don't have such a tax. This is typical. The applicable phrase is "lies of omission."
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
It says Massachusetts is going to repeal a tax but we all know that can't possibly be right. ;-)
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
> Your state needs the tax dollars, so it's not so bad.
I disagree. Taxachusetts needs to drastically cut administrative overhead and slash thousands of public hack jobs.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
I am curious how they can come up with estimate of how much the tax would generate, while also not having a clearly defined scope of what the tax would cover.
It'd be like someone saying they want to buy a car, and me saying it'll cost $20k. The term "car" covers a wide, wide range of possible options, and to give an ballpark figure would be nigh impossible with any accuracy unless I knew the specifics.
"The applicable phrase is "lies of omission."
The real phrase is "tunnel vision". All they saw was the imaginary $161 million collection which I'm sure they've already spent.
cap -- anaconda
Believe me, we were all in shock over this. You cannot create something in this state without the government hanging a tax on it. And, once that tax is in place and the bureaucracy suckling on the tax teat it is established, it's a permanent fixture. You'll never see a bureaucracy go away. Years ago, after returning home from a five-year stint in California, to my surprise, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts sent me an "excise tax" bill on my beat up car; the tax is, in fact, an ad valorem tax (based on the value of the car). I called my mom to ask what the heck it was and she simply stated: "Yeah, they tax driving in Massachusetts. Is it any wonder the Bay State got the moniker: Taxachusetts?
You're right -- Hanlon's Razor probably applies.
Where is the line between incompetence and dereliction?
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
Taxing me is one thing; calling it something else and pretending not to collect taxes is another.
No real argument there. There's a difference between charging $25 for a pair of license plates because that's what they cost, having a static fee for type/weight of vehicle for the road funds, and charging on the basis of the blue book value of the vehicle - so a sucky 10 year old F-350 is cheaper than a new Prius.
Honesty is good if you're going to do it.
That being said, as a moderate libertarian I don't consider 'tax' a bad word, since I believe that we should have a budget that's balanced on average. You can't do that without taxes. However, said taxes should be clear and relatively simple.
There are extreme libertarians out there that think differently, of course, just as there are people who call themselves libertarian that only do so because 'anarchist' is a dirty word that they don't want to be associated with.
I believe that there should be a government, but limited in scope - to put it into technological terms, think of a cell phone. As a libertarian I want my 'cell phone' to be a simple flip phone, not a smart phone. But just because I don't want my phone to have email, games, web browsing, and such doesn't mean that I don't want it to have good cell reception, voice quality, battery life, etc...
All too often in becoming bloated in scope(smart phone), we see massive increases in costs(they give away flip phones today for $30), functionality quality loss, etc... So, Law Enforcement is a 'core' government duty, so it should be effective law enforcement. Defense of the nation, courts, etc...
I don't read AC A human right