At 7:36 PM -0700 7/17/97, Mac Norton wrote:
On Thu, 17 Jul 1997, Tim May wrote:
Taxes are already essentially uncollectable, even in interstate transactions, so the moves by Summers and Magaziner are truly token gestures.
Uh, Tim, corporate and personal income taxes are still rather well collectible, and that my be the reason the federal gov't doesn't worry too much about taxing the Net. State, and even more so local, gov'ts do not have the same collectibility advantage. And the locals are often revenue-starved and
I meant that taxes are essentially uncollectable for interstate transactions like mail order purchases. I buy several thousand dollars worth of stuff each year by mail order, and only a few hundred bucks worth of it has been taxable. My state, California thinks I should either send them a check for 8.25% of all that I have purchased, or that the vendors in New Hampshire, Ohio, etc. should send them such a check....we all ignore this notion, and there is little to be done. It is this sort of "tax arbitrage" I was drawing a very real parallel to. Most "tax the Net" talk I hear about is about taxing Net commerce (as opposed to, say, placing a per minute tariff on Net connections). Hence, my point. I wasn't referring to either corporate or personal income taxes, which have little or nothing to do with the Net. --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."