4 ms·

The point is that SALES tax in the US doesn't correspond with "income" or even revenue. Sales tax isn't determined by the seller's characteristics - it depends

by anamax 5y ago

The point is that SALES tax in the US doesn't correspond with "income" or even revenue. Sales tax isn't determined by the seller's characteristics - it depends on the buyer.

syrrim 5y ago
This aspect of the buyer can be - and usually is permitted by law to be - determined from the buyer's IP address.
- pdnell 5y ago
  There would be a lot of people with VPNs nodes in Delaware (no sales tax).
  - pavon 5y ago
    Is that any different from having a credit card with the billing address in Delaware?
quadrangle 5y ago
The answer is obvious: get rid of sales taxes. They are the stupidest most regressive taxes we have. They are cumbersome, and they screw with price transparency, and they shouldn't exist. Incidentally, I support taxes in general and think we need more taxes on a lot of things. But taxes add cost to specific activities, and so they should be used to reduce those activities. Now, we don't want the perverse incentive of government relying on tax revenue and thus otherwise wanting to promote the activity. So, we need to find a balance in all these things. But like taxes on stock-trading would be good. And we should probably increase property taxes and just do the simple thing where property tax rates go up the more properties an entity holds (that makes it harder for investment companies to buy up all the properties and gouge everyone with high rents). But for all the justified complexity of tax policy decisions, sales taxes are the worst and should just be eliminated.
- pessimizer 5y ago
  Consumption taxes are regressive and punish the poor, but there's a case to be made for taxing transactions, primarily because government is expected to intervene if transactions go wrong. Same for property and wealth taxes, because the government creates property by deciding who owns things, deciding what that means, and intervening in any dispute. There's less of a US case to be made for taxes on wages, but just because the US shits on labor and spends almost no resources in defending it or the health and security of the people who provide it. Other countries that do more have a better case.
- krupan 5y ago
  Digression into taxes: Property taxes are worse than all other taxes. Why do I have to pay rent to the government for property that I already bought and paid for? Why does the amount of property tax I owe have no relationship to how much gain I actually realize, like income and capital gains taxes? Even sales tax has some sort of relationship to your realized gain (if you have less cash you probably buy less, so you pay less taxes).
  - MagnumOpus 5y ago
    Property or land taxes are better than all other taxes, for a number of reasons. * It is hard, nearly impossible to avoid. * In case of nonpayment the property serves as collateral. * Land value depends mostly on public infrastructure paid with public funds - roads, subways, schools etc are all public goods that the property owner profits from via price appreciation but the general taxpayer pays for. So a linkage needs to be established. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism In the words of a famous conservative: "Roads are made, streets are made, services are improved, electric light turns night into day, water is brought from reservoirs a hundred miles off in the mountains – and all the while the landlord sits still. Every one of those improvements is effected by the labor and cost of other people and the taxpayers. To not one of those improvements does the land monopolist, as a land monopolist, contribute, and yet by every one of them the value of his land is enhanced. He renders no service to the community, he contributes nothing to the general welfare, he contributes nothing to the process from which his own enrichment is derived ... the unearned increment on the land is reaped by the land monopolist in exact proportion, not to the service, but to the disservice done."
croes 5y ago
There are more taxes for Merchants than only sales taxes. The point the income stream via GNU Taler can be easily verified put the buyer still keeps his anonymity.
Jolter 5y ago
You have the same problem with a cash transaction, I’m sure.

by anamax 5y ago

The point is that SALES tax in the US doesn't correspond with "income" or even revenue. Sales tax isn't determined by the seller's characteristics - it depends on the buyer.

syrrim 5y ago

This aspect of the buyer can be - and usually is permitted by law to be - determined from the buyer's IP address.

pdnell 5y ago
There would be a lot of people with VPNs nodes in Delaware (no sales tax).
- pavon 5y ago
  Is that any different from having a credit card with the billing address in Delaware?

quadrangle 5y ago

The answer is obvious: get rid of sales taxes. They are the stupidest most regressive taxes we have. They are cumbersome, and they screw with price transparency, and they shouldn't exist. Incidentally, I support taxes in general and think we need more taxes on a lot of things. But taxes add cost to specific activities, and so they should be used to reduce those activities. Now, we don't want the perverse incentive of government relying on tax revenue and thus otherwise wanting to promote the activity. So, we need to find a balance in all these things. But like taxes on stock-trading would be good. And we should probably increase property taxes and just do the simple thing where property tax rates go up the more properties an entity holds (that makes it harder for investment companies to buy up all the properties and gouge everyone with high rents). But for all the justified complexity of tax policy decisions, sales taxes are the worst and should just be eliminated.

pessimizer 5y ago
Consumption taxes are regressive and punish the poor, but there's a case to be made for taxing transactions, primarily because government is expected to intervene if transactions go wrong. Same for property and wealth taxes, because the government creates property by deciding who owns things, deciding what that means, and intervening in any dispute. There's less of a US case to be made for taxes on wages, but just because the US shits on labor and spends almost no resources in defending it or the health and security of the people who provide it. Other countries that do more have a better case.
krupan 5y ago
Digression into taxes: Property taxes are worse than all other taxes. Why do I have to pay rent to the government for property that I already bought and paid for? Why does the amount of property tax I owe have no relationship to how much gain I actually realize, like income and capital gains taxes? Even sales tax has some sort of relationship to your realized gain (if you have less cash you probably buy less, so you pay less taxes).
- MagnumOpus 5y ago
  Property or land taxes are better than all other taxes, for a number of reasons. * It is hard, nearly impossible to avoid. * In case of nonpayment the property serves as collateral. * Land value depends mostly on public infrastructure paid with public funds - roads, subways, schools etc are all public goods that the property owner profits from via price appreciation but the general taxpayer pays for. So a linkage needs to be established. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism In the words of a famous conservative: "Roads are made, streets are made, services are improved, electric light turns night into day, water is brought from reservoirs a hundred miles off in the mountains – and all the while the landlord sits still. Every one of those improvements is effected by the labor and cost of other people and the taxpayers. To not one of those improvements does the land monopolist, as a land monopolist, contribute, and yet by every one of them the value of his land is enhanced. He renders no service to the community, he contributes nothing to the general welfare, he contributes nothing to the process from which his own enrichment is derived ... the unearned increment on the land is reaped by the land monopolist in exact proportion, not to the service, but to the disservice done."

croes 5y ago

There are more taxes for Merchants than only sales taxes. The point the income stream via GNU Taler can be easily verified put the buyer still keeps his anonymity.

Jolter 5y ago

You have the same problem with a cash transaction, I’m sure.