Should Online Purchases Be Taxed?

Should Online Purchases Be Taxed?(inc.com)

1 points by PredictorY 8 years ago | 3 comments

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.

PredictorY 8 years ago | |

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?

anoncoward111 8 years ago | | |

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?