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Taxes can cause undesirable side effects and destroy more value than they capture. Why should we single out goods and services just because they're bought onlin
by prodigal_erik 11y ago
Taxes can cause undesirable side effects and destroy more value than they capture. Why should we single out goods and services just because they're bought online? To exempt brick & mortar businesses is to artificially prop up business models that the market seems to be declaring obsolete.
- gradstudent 11y agoSorry, I'm not getting it. Wikipedia [1] tells me the 1998 Internet Tax Freedom Act was introduced to stop governments at all levels imposing "Internet taxes" on services that are provided electronically via the Internet. Like email. I agree such taxes are arbitrary and quite stupid. That isn't my question however. My question is about why the provision of Internet access should not be taxable like everything else. You pay taxes on the provision of other goods and services, including utilities. Why exempt the Internet? If the argument comes down to ensuring universal access to basic utilities, why not exempt all utilities? More, why should the exemptions apply to everyone instead of just the disadvantaged? The entire idea strikes me as completely bizarre and alien. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Tax_Freedom_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Tax_Freedom_Act