How long til your state taxes computer downloads, internet sales, and music downloads?

Is it fair to tax downloads?

www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/business/13668295.htm

Pa. begins taxing downloads

The sales tax hadn't been applied to software bought online.
By Bob FernandezInquirer Staff Writer

With a court case going unchallenged, Pennsylvania has begun collecting the 6 percent state sales tax on downloaded software.
A key exception is songs grabbed from the Internet for iPods and personal computers, Steve Kniley, Revenue Department spokesman, said this week.
The new policy amounts to a tax hike and is expected to generate revenue of $55 million to $60 million a year for Pennsylvania from businesses and individuals.
Companies update large software packages electronically, and these updates will be taxed under the new policy. Consumers also will pay the sales tax when they download software such as tax packages or virus-protection programs.
The new policy on taxing downloads was not something the Revenue Department "asked for," and the state agency was just following a court ruling, Kniley said.
A three-judge panel ruled in September in a run-of-the-mill tax case that the Revenue Department's long-standing policy of distinguishing between software on CD and software delivered electronically was silly. The software on CDs was considered tangible property and taxed.
Software delivered electronically was considered intangible and was not.
Tax experts, including state officials, expected the September ruling to be appealed by Graham Packaging. The York company filed the original case, but it did not appeal, and the Revenue Department implemented the changes.
Kyle Sollie, a tax lawyer in the Philadelphia firm Dechert L.L.P., said the new tax would make Pennsylvania a less competitive place for businesses in the region. Delaware doesn't have a sales tax at all, and New Jersey does not tax electronically delivered software.

.gov wants soooo badly to get their hands on the internet.  This is what is known as incrementalism..

just remember that the boston tea party was over a 1% tax

So what are they going to spend all this extra money on?  Crack-whore illegal immigrant babies and their slack-jawed prison cock-sucking fathers who we're paying to keep in prison?

If the money was actually spent on what government was intended for ie. police, fire, border patrol, military, etc. then I wouldn't complain but it will instead be spent on more garbage.  

Can you say unenforceable boys and girls? Good, I knew you could.



All this law will be used for is backdoor surveillance… under the guise of revenue collection. PA elected big piles of crap in the past two elections. Time to pay the piper.  

Quoted: .gov wants soooo badly to get their hands on the internet.  This is what is known as incrementalism..

.GOV:  "You have freedom of speech, but every time you post on ARFCOM you owe us $5.  Make cheques payable to 'Uncle Sam'"

Internet purchase + shipping (not applicable to downloads, but applies generally) + TAXES =

Bringing internet commerce to a grinding halt.

People will not buy as much stuff online because it will be cheaper in local stores.

Quoted: So what are they going to spend all this extra money on?  Crack-whore illegal immigrant babies and their slack-jawed prison cock-sucking fathers who we're paying to keep in prison? If the money was actually spent on what government was intended for ie. police, fire, border patrol, military, etc. then I wouldn't complain but it will instead be spent on more garbage.

+f'n 1bazillion million and a hundres to spare

Look at Items, get phone number, call place of business out of state, buy Items, screw cheapass state Government who gives most of it to deadbeats. Priceless. I do not actually ORDER off the web, just price then call.

As I've stated so many times, the .gov will spend every penny they can get their hands on, then claim they still don't have enough.

No one will do anything and the govt. will march on.

NY already does this. On your income tax return they apply a sales tax based on your income to cover out of state purchases.

Quoted: just remember that the boston tea party was over a 1% tax

nobody is listening

Quoted: NY already does this. On your income tax return they apply a sales tax based on your income to cover out of state purchases.

Wow! What do thay call that? My guess is something like "The bend over tax."

Okay now--I am a bit lost here:

1--software companies do not strictly charge you for the copy of the program, they charge you for the LICENSE. The CD in the box costs $.50, many companies will send you another copy of the CD if it gets damaged or lost, but they won't give you another serial number. So technically,,,,,, the software itself costs almost nothing.

2--and what software company charges you for updates? As far as I've ever seen, updates of most software are free--with the one exception being antivirus software subscriptions. So then, in most cases,,, -how much is ten percent of nothing?

This seems to be a problem of government bureaucrats vs software companies--the Pa gov wants to tax software as if it is a regular form of merchandise, when software companies themselves have long argued exactly the opposite. The main reason Pa probably chose to exempt music downloads was exactly because they didn't want Apple's lawyers coming in ripping them to shreds in court.

and 3--the idea right off strikes me as impractically difficult to enforce, what with foreign hosting and payment-processing options that are available. Something tells me that they did NOT consult with internet experts on this one.....
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