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iPod New York Proposes iPod Tax. !?

That's not the half of it. Fees for just about everything are going up and sales tax will be added to a slew of things that were previously non-taxable (downloads, haircuts, clothing). About the only thing still free is scratching yourself.
 
I guess his local Comicbook Guy is going to be pissed as he downloads his Torrents sipping on his mojito.

Canada has a Tax already for Blank Media Etc. France also has an IPod tax. Both have proven to be ineffective.
 
In many countries, there either have been or are taxes on MP3 players that are used to reimburse costs associated with things like multiple use of royalty materials (e.g. reimburse recording artists whose CDs are being ripped and put on the new media, as well as to some extent to flatten out the impact of piracy). I think recordable media such as CDRs have this tax in some places too, Canada included, if I'm not mistaken.

I see that as being vaguely reasonable (although it does punish people who are doing the right thing).

But explicitly taxing the online music sales themselves is doubly punishing a minority who're doing the right thing, at a time when many people are not doing the right thing. It's the complete opposite of a sin tax like taxing non-diet soda or something like that.

EDIT: On the other hand, now I'm not sure I understand... the article also states that this is not a unique tax on the online purchase but merely extending normal sales tax to digital purchases as it applies to non-digital purposes? That on the surface does not seem excessively unfair to me, although I admittedly do not pay sales tax on such items now (in IL, or previously in MI or FL)....

I guess the only positive thing I can say about the proposals is that many of them differentially tax things non-essential purchases, which at least is better than a flat raising of the sales tax.

Overall, I'm sure it'll fail just because it will generate a lot of attention as well as ignite the ire of people whose voices are more... audible.
 
I understand the need to raise taxes here since we're facing huge, huge deficits. The fallout from Wall Street is hitting NYS and NYC very hard. To propose all these new taxes and fees is just a political way to try and spread the burden. I'd rather he just suck it up and raise the state sales tax by a penny or 2. That would surely raise a lot more revenue than this hodgepodge he is proposing.
 
rdowns said:
I understand the need to raise taxes here since we're facing huge, huge deficits. The fallout from Wall Street is hitting NYS and NYC very hard. To propose all these new taxes and fees is just a political way to try and spread the burden. I'd rather he just suck it up and raise the state sales tax by a penny or 2. That would surely raise a lot more revenue than this hodgepodge he is proposing.
Click to expand...

True, but what will the proposed impact on the state's poorest citizens be? Sales taxes always hit the wallets of the poor harder than the rich....
 
How the heck do you tax itunes downloads ONLY from NY residents?

He'd probably make much more money legalizing weed and selling/taxing that instead.
 
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