Apr 252013
 

Check out this blog post from the Republican Liberty Caucus about the looming internet sales tax. You can use their form to write your senators too.

Here’s what I wrote:

I am an internet entrepreneur — a philosopher and a radio host — and I am adamantly opposed to this internet tax. It would make my work much, much more difficult. I already refuse to sell physical goods to Colorado residents because complying with the slew of local taxes is simply not worth the legal risk and headache. So you’re going to “solve” that problem by imposing the same for every sale in America? Are you kidding?

Do you really wish to destroy entrepreneurs and small business people? That’s what this bill would do. STOP IT.

Apparently, the bill is going up for a vote on Friday, so please write them to oppose this monstrosity today!

  • yfeldblum

    Thanks for the link!

    Here’s what I wrote:

    I strongly support the freedom of each and everybody to pursue their dreams. Over the last two decades, millions of people from across the spectrum of society have found a way to pursue their dreams over the Internet.

    That’s why I am adamantly opposed to any tax on Internet transactions. A tax on Internet transactions would stifle that opportunity for millions of people.

    And that’s why I adamantly oppose the Marketplace Fairness Act.

    This tax will decrease wages and salaries across the whole economy and increase the prices of goods and services across the whole economy, reduce everyone’s standard of living, increase the national deficit and the national debt, and widen the gap between the poor and the rich. It’s the poor and other disadvantaged people who most depend on the opportunity afforded by the Internet, and who will be most harmed by any tax on Internet transactions.

    The Marketplace Fairness Act is not about fairness. It is all about keeping entrepreneurs out of Internet commerce, leaving politically-connected large corporations with monopolies. All at the expense of the poor and otherwise disadvantaged as entrepreneurs and at the expense of the rest of us as consumers.

    The streamlining/simplification requirements on the states help a little, but only a little. The bill is terrible for our economy even with those requirements in place.

    The small-seller exception likewise helps a little, but only a little. Small sellers will still be required to spend extraordinary money and time preparing to comply with the Internet transactions taxes as they grow to more than a couple employees, long before they ever break the sales threshold.

    As a software engineer, I can attest to the enormous burden this bill will place on solo or small-time entrepreneurs. This bill will make it impossible for many people, especially the poor or otherwise disadvantaged, to open up an online store; it will make it extraordinarily expensive for others in both money and time.

    Please join me in opposing the Marketplace Fairness Act. Please join me in keeping our online marketplace free for solo and small-time entrepreneurs to find opportunity and to pursue their dreams.

   
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