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.
It’s probably worth noting that the burden of any new taxes that are assessed because of the revenue lost to non-payers invariably falls on the honest (because the guys who weren’t paying the old tax also won’t pay any new tax), so encouraging compliance is to your financial benefit.
>As a conservative, I think it should be as easy as possible to have taxes collected
Only if you are conserving using your brain. I guess you think business should collect union dues with their payroll too?
“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...”
So what happens when Internet companies located out of Canada or any other country decide not to follow our convoluted mess of state and local sales tax laws because they don’t have to? Then what? Of course, the solution will have to be a global Internet tax to make everything “fair.”
Also, let’s say I live in Hudson, Wisconsin and choose to drive 10 minutes across the Minnesota border to buy clothing without sales tax. Should they now start asking me where I live and force me to pay taxes in my local jurisdiction? That’s just as ‘fair and reasonable’ as this idea, are you for that as well?