-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- At 09:08 AM 11/24/97 -0700, Tim May wrote:
Some thoughts on the proposal floating around to require all electronic transactions be identified and have IRS-endorse tags. I believe this runs smack up against the First Amendment (and possibly the Fourth), and that private transactions, contracts, IOUs, and such are essentially untaxable and nonvisible to the government (practically speaking, a la the situation today and at all times in the past).
Not to mention GATT and the WTO. I don't think the US can unilaterally mandate a particular electronic commerce scheme and force it on electronic merchants in Mongolia (the freest trading country on earth these days). That's why when Pat said GATT would destroy U.S. soveriegnty, I said "I sure hope so."
3. Many businesses have started asking for ID for more purchases (perhaps because they think it will lessen liability problems, perhaps because they just think that all customer-units should be tracked). An example: hotel rooms. (Used to be one could just pay cash...now ID is demanded at some hotels.)
Though most hotels actually want credit cards and believe that credit cards are a form of ID even though they most certainly are not. I was asked for a picture ID before being shown an apartment. Real Estate agent concern about crime directed at them?
Some businesses are even demanding Social Security numbers. (And I don't mean banks or other businesses with IRS reporting requirements...a local gun range demanded my SS number for their range ID card.)
"I'm Canadian. I don't have an SS#." Works for everything that can be purchased or joined by Canadians in the US.
However, these ID requirements are not the norm, and most merchants will happily take cash money for any and all purchases.
Very true.
4. "Receipts" are not even required by law for transactions. Alice and Bob can complete a transaction without any paperwork. Or with handwritten notes. Or a Xeroxed receipt form. Or with their Palm Pilots or Newtons, or whatever.
The Finanzia Guardia (pardon my Italian spelling) (Financial Police) in Italy enforce the Italian requirement for receipts by fining customers who can't produce them. Designed to back up VAT collection. I noticed that most receipts there were generated by PCs under control of shopkeepers. Good opportunities for keeping double books. I wonder if Italy mandates POS and accounting software?
9. In the U.S. at least, there is essentially no attempt to collect sales taxes on private, two-party transactions. This is not enforceable at flea markets, garage sales, and other such markets, let alone in private transactions between Alice and Bob.
Though the New Jersey Gestapo *have* been attending computer, collector, etc. shows and demanding resale certificates, estimating revenue based on displayed stock, and seizing stock if not paid. (Not recommended at gun shows -- which have been driven out of NJ in any case). Hard work for the revenooers, though.
12. The expression "to utter a check" dates back before Eric Hughes' usage a few years ago (so I was told by M. Froomkin). A check is a kind of promise to pay. So is an IOU. So is a promissory (sp?) note. So are many kinds of contracts.
Uttering checks is from the dawn of commercial paper under common law. I'm sure Eric read it in one of the banking books he likes to read.
Practically speaking, the idea is a non-starter. There are so many ways to skirt the proposed ID systems, using cut-outs, off-shore accounts, pseudonyms, etc., that enforcement would be a nightmare.
No kidding. DCF -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.0 Charset: noconv iQCVAwUBNHnnQYVO4r4sgSPhAQEeBwQApVihguCs7pl49vKS4MEOyFJQAtPAPa8Z LlvtSES9XkNogf+ko61Am4/KTiBxz6cs11fJJo+g0SP33n852GkUGw0wmgyXYhS7 z9TCfJXnFJFauS/NE1FBF/6An1KFenHCq3qbRGs3rld+mAYwCouiWAR/1QeGMOFf 7MEDFhIxNGk= =utSo -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----