My 2¢ worth

Taxes. That favorite subject of oh, so many people! I have reviewed the "pros" & "cons" of the two web pages that were assigned to us, and this is my 2¢ worth right here:

So we pay taxes for all sorts of reasons, such as police protection, firefighters, road maintenance, etc. Good, great, grand. Internet sales tax, while it may seem like a good idea or a bad idea based on your point of view, would be very difficult to regulate. To quote MARK WEISBROT, the pro-tax columnist from GazetteXtra.com, "...most states cannot borrow to cover an operational budget deficit. This means they will cut spending, including such items as health insurance for children and low-income families, child care and elementary education. In fact, at least 18 states are already making these kinds of cuts, and the recession has barely started...So we cannot afford to lose tens of billions of dollars in state and local tax revenues by exempting Internet sales. But even if it were affordable, there is no good economic reason to do so." Sounds good, right? Hey, more taxes for schools (that one always gets them), that's gotta be good! The children are our future, etc. etc. I'm right at the forefront of more money for schools, especially teachers, the most woe-fully underpaid people in the country in my opinion. Here's the rub: How do we make sure the taxes collected from Internet sales (or anywhere else, for that matter) goes to the schools and not to the ever-expanding military budget? We don't, that's the short answer to that question. The government uses it as they see fit, whether the taxes are collected from state or federal sources.

Now, let's talk cons of this Internet sales tax proposal. KRISTINA M. RASMUSSEN, the con columnist from the aforementioned website GazetteXtra.com, points out that "...each state has a homegrown tax system with differing rates, definitions and applications. Five states have no sales tax, 30 don’t tax food, and 11 exempt nonprescription drugs. What one state considers food, another might tax as candy. Some states base taxes on where shipments originate, others on destination. Different rates and rules for 7,500-plus local jurisdictions add another dimension of complexity to the mix.

The cost to online retailers to calculate, collect and remit these taxes could very well force higher prices or even business closures during this time of economic uncertainty." Just what we need, more small businesses going under. Yeah, that'll help the economy.

Don't get me wrong, I pay taxes and I don't gripe too loudly about it. I'm not a tax protester by any standard of the definition. In fact, I try to live my life according to Bible principles, and Jesus said to "pay Caesar's things to Caesar" which was a tax question put to him by the Pharisees in an attempt to trip him up. So I pay my taxes, and leave the rest up to the government. If they pass the Internet seller's tax proposal, so be it, I'll pay it. I won't look for loopholes, I'll just bite the bullet and grumble to myself.

However, don't expect me to like it. My wife and I buy and sell quite a lot on the Internet, not entirely through eBay, but some and the tax proposal, if it includes small time sellers like us, or just big companies that we purchase from, will surely affect us one way or the other. And like all tax increase proposals, it's gonna hit us in the ol' Bank account. Yay.