4 ms·

This seems like a hidden form of taxation. Instead of paying money, citizens pay "taxes" with their private data.

• sitharus 7y ago
  Given the prevalence of the “all taxes are bad” narrative that’s effectively cut taxes over the past couple of decades I’m not surprised. The money has to come from somewhere, so if the honest way of getting money is blocked the dishonest ones have to be used.
  • cascom 7y ago
    That pre-supposes that the problem is money - state and local revenues have been growing at 6%+ CAGR since the 1970’s, well in excess of inflation. https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/state-general-revenue https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/state-general-rev...
    • alexsb92 7y ago
      But what does that look like on a per-capita basis?
      • cascom 7y ago
        Well population growth over that period was ~1% and inflation was ~3.7% so still ~1.3% real increase in spending a year...