Problem is a new student comes into CS and expects to learn programming. If you start off with too much theory he'll decide it sucks and change to another curriculum (I think the amount of theory is what makes so many people cancel out of CS, I certainly heard a lot of moaning about it during the first few semesters). I don't think it's wrong to start with programming in the first semester, after all you have more than one course (we had programming, algorithms and datastructures, theoretical computer science and technical computer science in addition to math during the first semester). Of course learning all kinds of languages is silly but learning how to do imperative programming and the mindset for it is a good deal of work for people who haven't coded before. At one university we were taught Haskell first since it's a lot like math and everybody already knew math from school, after that Java followed. Generally Java seems to be the most popular instructional language these days, I suppose Eclipse helps with that and Java actually gets used for real work, unlike, say, BASIC or Pascal (the latter of which we had in school, nothing like making FSEs in Pascal while wishing you had written some sort of generic interpreter for FSEs...).
That depends on what we programmed our creations to want. If they are made to want only that which they are designed for they would be satisfied with the answer, if not they'd obviously be disappointed but I'd argue it's unethical to program a sufficiently intelligent artificial lifeform to desire something it cannot have. It'd be cruel to program a robot to desire being treated like a human when either the law or just something physical about the robot prevents that.
On the other hand I shudder at the thought of e.g. robots that look like children being designed for all kinds of abuse that would be illegal on a human and being programmed to react accordingly.
You mean PLE? A hobbyist intending to sell some stuff as a side income can't use that because commercial use is not permitted and I'm not even sure if the PLE isn't crippled to prevent exporting into usable formats.
I'm usually socialist but I agree on this, government subsidies should be limited to basic goods like food, education, healthcare and utilities because everybody needs it and it should be available to everyone. Movies are a luxury, I don't think the government needs to subsidize any media other than the informational kind (news broadcasts and the like).
Well, hobbyists can't afford business-class software. A hobbyist couldn't afford Oracle or Photoshop or Maya or AutoCAD or whatever else he could be using. But then again if you're doing it only for your hobby then you can get away without testing so much that you absolutely need virtualization or you can just plunk down the money for a more expensive version.
Selling a more expsensive version of the same product to get a feature is a lot more valid as a reason than buying a different product (e.g. a computer) to get a feature. Usually requiring people to buy more products without allowing them to choose a competitor's products is a violation of antitrust laws but I guess Apple is lucky that they are too small in the OS/hardware market to get hit for that.
Private use remains private use. A company can deduct everything because a company is a business by definition. A private person isn't and has to keep track of what is done for business and what not.
Yes but why would a new website bother to establish a "tax evasion zone"? Tax evasion is not legal anyway and the only people who benefit from it are the criminals. In fact I'd say it hurts the legal people since the govt needs a certain amount of money and if the illegals withhold some the rest has to make up for it.
But who gets to decide if it's a primary or secondary income?
Same as always, the law. The IRS won't do automatic prosecutions of those who show up, they'll only see noteworthy cases that get investigated. If someone e.g. sells a car at a loss they have to report the income normally. If they want the loss to be recognized as such they have to file the cost as expenses. There are procedures for all of this and plenty of professionals who will be able to explain to you in detail how this works.
Why should I have to explain to the IRS my transactions on ebay and why I shouldn't be considered a business?
Because it is your duty as a citizen.
And what happens when the IRS inevitably decides ALL ebay transactions are taxable income?
Decides? The law clearly states they are taxable income, the IRS just says they aren't going to bother with small fry.
Also just as big a question, why does the IRS deserve to know everything that happens on a particular website? Doesn't the government have enough spying on us? Should ebay extend the same privilege to every country on earth as well?
Because the IRS is investigating crime there. Either the IRS gets that data anyway through your tax report or they'd be able to put you in jail. Therefore there's no real net loss for you provided you aren't doing anything wrong. This is unlike normal surveillance since you're already required to report everything anyway (so you're not losing any privacy, you never had it) and only the criminals avoid that reporting.
No, they only need the name and address, the IRS most likely has records showing the rest of the data. If filing a proper tax report is too difficult they'll just get a list from ebay of the biggest sellers, match it to their own records and look if any of them reported too little income. Of course this will also affect those who drive up their own auction values by bidding with a dupe account since the IRS won't know they only pretended to sell it.
Ebay falls under the exact same rules as normal sales, of course you can deduct your costs provided you do the proper procedures (and I once heard that you can only deduct for your primary source of income which means if you make 20000$ p.a. at your job and 2000$ p.a. on ebay you don't get to deduct). You can do the same with garage sales or flea markets or whathaveyou.
Ebay is not a legal loophole, people just don't report their income from it which is a felony and the IRS wants ebay to help them with identifying and catching the criminals.
That's assuming you do business with a private seller. Many accounts on eBay belong to companies that use eBay as their main source of profit. Also the law does not differentiate between private and commercial sellers, at least not in this regard.
You can deduct your expenses provided you can properly document them.
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Problem is a new student comes into CS and expects to learn programming. If you start off with too much theory he'll decide it sucks and change to another curriculum (I think the amount of theory is what makes so many people cancel out of CS, I certainly heard a lot of moaning about it during the first few semesters). I don't think it's wrong to start with programming in the first semester, after all you have more than one course (we had programming, algorithms and datastructures, theoretical computer science and technical computer science in addition to math during the first semester). Of course learning all kinds of languages is silly but learning how to do imperative programming and the mindset for it is a good deal of work for people who haven't coded before. At one university we were taught Haskell first since it's a lot like math and everybody already knew math from school, after that Java followed. Generally Java seems to be the most popular instructional language these days, I suppose Eclipse helps with that and Java actually gets used for real work, unlike, say, BASIC or Pascal (the latter of which we had in school, nothing like making FSEs in Pascal while wishing you had written some sort of generic interpreter for FSEs...).
That wouldn't really work, the abuser wouldn't feel like he's still abusing the subject.
That depends on what we programmed our creations to want. If they are made to want only that which they are designed for they would be satisfied with the answer, if not they'd obviously be disappointed but I'd argue it's unethical to program a sufficiently intelligent artificial lifeform to desire something it cannot have. It'd be cruel to program a robot to desire being treated like a human when either the law or just something physical about the robot prevents that.
On the other hand I shudder at the thought of e.g. robots that look like children being designed for all kinds of abuse that would be illegal on a human and being programmed to react accordingly.
You mean PLE? A hobbyist intending to sell some stuff as a side income can't use that because commercial use is not permitted and I'm not even sure if the PLE isn't crippled to prevent exporting into usable formats.
Yes, that's what taxes are for.
No, then it would always flash "He's dead, Jim!" if the patient is wearing a red shirt.
Yes but mergers are blocked by the FTC if they would create a monopoly.
I'm usually socialist but I agree on this, government subsidies should be limited to basic goods like food, education, healthcare and utilities because everybody needs it and it should be available to everyone. Movies are a luxury, I don't think the government needs to subsidize any media other than the informational kind (news broadcasts and the like).
Well, hobbyists can't afford business-class software. A hobbyist couldn't afford Oracle or Photoshop or Maya or AutoCAD or whatever else he could be using. But then again if you're doing it only for your hobby then you can get away without testing so much that you absolutely need virtualization or you can just plunk down the money for a more expensive version.
Or they can just use Bootcamp, a boot manager won't run afoul of even the Home Basic EULA.
Selling a more expsensive version of the same product to get a feature is a lot more valid as a reason than buying a different product (e.g. a computer) to get a feature. Usually requiring people to buy more products without allowing them to choose a competitor's products is a violation of antitrust laws but I guess Apple is lucky that they are too small in the OS/hardware market to get hit for that.
You take a screw driver or something and start rearranging keys?
IIRC all media outlets are owned or controlled by Putin, he can pretty much say what gets aired and what not.
People want to sell items without tax, buy items without sales tax
And I want a pony.
You do get taxed for yard sales, the IRS just can't be bothered to go after you for not reporting it.
Why? Noone's stopping you from reporting that already.
Because how does Ebay prove I made a PROFIT on an item I sold? every item I sell I sell at a loss.
Like all taxes it's your job to document your expenses to show that you made a loss.
If you are a business selling products you already have laws in your state and country to cover these things.
Indeed which is why this law is intended to help with enforcement, not levy new taxes.
Private use remains private use. A company can deduct everything because a company is a business by definition. A private person isn't and has to keep track of what is done for business and what not.
I've often heard that electronic money transfers are pretty expensive in the US, perhaps it's the same for Canada and a cheque is just cheaper?
Yes but why would a new website bother to establish a "tax evasion zone"? Tax evasion is not legal anyway and the only people who benefit from it are the criminals. In fact I'd say it hurts the legal people since the govt needs a certain amount of money and if the illegals withhold some the rest has to make up for it.
But who gets to decide if it's a primary or secondary income?
Same as always, the law. The IRS won't do automatic prosecutions of those who show up, they'll only see noteworthy cases that get investigated. If someone e.g. sells a car at a loss they have to report the income normally. If they want the loss to be recognized as such they have to file the cost as expenses. There are procedures for all of this and plenty of professionals who will be able to explain to you in detail how this works.
Why should I have to explain to the IRS my transactions on ebay and why I shouldn't be considered a business?
Because it is your duty as a citizen.
And what happens when the IRS inevitably decides ALL ebay transactions are taxable income?
Decides? The law clearly states they are taxable income, the IRS just says they aren't going to bother with small fry.
Also just as big a question, why does the IRS deserve to know everything that happens on a particular website? Doesn't the government have enough spying on us? Should ebay extend the same privilege to every country on earth as well?
Because the IRS is investigating crime there. Either the IRS gets that data anyway through your tax report or they'd be able to put you in jail. Therefore there's no real net loss for you provided you aren't doing anything wrong. This is unlike normal surveillance since you're already required to report everything anyway (so you're not losing any privacy, you never had it) and only the criminals avoid that reporting.
No, they only need the name and address, the IRS most likely has records showing the rest of the data. If filing a proper tax report is too difficult they'll just get a list from ebay of the biggest sellers, match it to their own records and look if any of them reported too little income. Of course this will also affect those who drive up their own auction values by bidding with a dupe account since the IRS won't know they only pretended to sell it.
Ebay falls under the exact same rules as normal sales, of course you can deduct your costs provided you do the proper procedures (and I once heard that you can only deduct for your primary source of income which means if you make 20000$ p.a. at your job and 2000$ p.a. on ebay you don't get to deduct). You can do the same with garage sales or flea markets or whathaveyou.
Ebay is not a legal loophole, people just don't report their income from it which is a felony and the IRS wants ebay to help them with identifying and catching the criminals.
That's assuming you do business with a private seller. Many accounts on eBay belong to companies that use eBay as their main source of profit. Also the law does not differentiate between private and commercial sellers, at least not in this regard.
You can deduct your expenses provided you can properly document them.