
Should Online Purchases Be Taxed? - PredictorY
https://www.inc.com/video/enter-the-debate-should-online-purchases-be-taxed.html
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anoncoward111
Should anything be taxed? I exist nearly entirely off the grid and it's been
the best thing I've ever done for my mental and physical health.

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PredictorY
I think that's an interesting question: It seems that many people assume that
taxation and regulation should be the norm.

One argument often made by governments in favor of the taxes they collect is
the services they provide, especially, in the case of sales taxes, the legal
protections they offer buyers. I wonder how well that justification holds up
in the world of on-line retail?

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anoncoward111
Property taxes pay for schools, police, county/town government services, etc.

State income taxes (in most states) pay for the legal courts, the parks,
roads, and plowing, and a state unemployment + welfare system.

Federal taxes mostly go towards the military and some other civil services
like environment and highways. Social Security + Medicare are welfare payments
made to old people who have worked and aged to around the age of 65.

So, I'm not really sure what I'm benefiting from here. I guess maybe another
foreign country would invade the US and potentially kill me if we didn't have
a military. But I'm not feeling like any of these services personally help me
at all.

Sales tax goes into a slush fund at the state level that is just spent on
anything random. I don't think it's mandated to be used for something specific
to online consumer protections?

