“Or maybe you think government shouldn’t exist at all, and doesn’t need any money.”
Or maybe I think government already collects plenty of taxes and WASTES ALL OUR MONEY ON NEEDLESS AND REDUNDANT SOCIAL PROGRAMS, and that giving them these additional tax revenues will only INCREASE THEIR APPETITE TO WASTE MORE OF OUR MONEY.
And maybe I think that if you claim to be a conservative, you should oppose on principle ANY LEGISLATION that makes it easier for any part of the government to collect more of our hard earned money.
As a conservative, I think it should be as easy as possible to have taxes collected. I don’t want to think that the only reason the government doesn’t tax us more is that it is too hard.
If we are going to fight taxes, we should fight taxes, not fight to keep a byzantine system of special-interest tax policies in place that benefit the well-connected at the expense of the law-abiding.
If the state has too much in tax, we should implement the internet collection, and then get the state government (which is OUR representatives, elected by our vote) to lower the sales tax rate to balance the new revenue.
That way, all people who buy things are paying the same share of taxes, and because the burden is more evenly spread out, everybody can pay a little bit less.
I totally oppose the idea that our government would be better if half the people in the state figured out how to cheat on taxes, so that the entire tax burden was borne by the half of the people who obey the law.
That’s like noting that a department store charges too much for their stuff, an arguing that you should be able to shoplift, because if they crack down on shoplifters, the company will just collect that much more money for their goods. When in fact, if there weren’t people shoplifting, the price in the stores would be a little bit lower for everybody.
Yes, I know that the argument is that the states will NOT lower other taxes, they will just spend the extra money. I’m still for it — because at least then they will be burdening ALL the residents of the state, not just the law-abiding, and if they are going to spend too much, at least I, a law-abiding citizen, might get a little bit more out of the state. I’d rather they lower my taxes, but I’m all for making sure my neighbor pays the same tax if they buy the same product at the same price.