[83293] in Cypherpunks
Re: "Time to Walk the Walk down the Gang Plank"
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Tim May)
Thu Jul 17 23:23:10 1997
X-Real-To: cypherpunks@algebra.com
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SOL.3.96.970717212956.24107G-100000@cavern.uark.edu>
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 19:54:15 -0700
To: Mac Norton <mnorton@cavern.uark.edu>
From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Cc: cypherpunks@algebra.com
Reply-To: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
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."
