Re: [tlug] Japan to Tax E-Content

[Darren Cook <darren@example.com>]

> And in any case even in Jason's libertarian paradise (?) you'd still need
> taxes for whatever he's still advocating the government still do. Of all
> the taxes you might abolish I doubt you'd want to abolish sales tax, and of
> all the tax breaks you might provide I don't see why you'd give one to
> buyers of digital content.

A good tax has to:
  * earn enough to be worth the bother
  * be easy to collect / hard to dodge
  * be politically popular

A tax on things downloaded from overseas clearly fails on the second,
and scores poorly on the 1st and 3rd (all sales taxes are unpopular, as
the customer sees them immediately). It is strange it ever got out of
brainstorming, to be honest.

Increasing higher-band income tax rates fails on the 1st.

Increasing income tax for the poor is fatal on the 3rd.

Increasing corporate income tax, on the other hand, satisfies all three
(people see corporations as distinct from them, so support taxes on
them). The only reason politicians wouldn't go for that option is if
they are being incentivized not too. ;-)

Darren

P.S. Our resident economist professor is strangely quiet today!?!