I have an honest question.... Let’s say I open a business, take on overhead, employees, etc. Then some guy in another state does the same, but undercuts me on price through the internet. Wouldn’t I want a sales tax to protect my business? Create an even playing field?
-—————Wouldn’t I want a sales tax to protect my business?——————
No.
You would want to work to lower the taxes in your own state. That way your state has as low of tax burden as his state does.
And!!!!! And, you would want to sell your own stuff online as well. Now you have an even playing field.
The answer is *NOT* to punish the other guy. Because in the process of punishing the other guy, you punish us all.
That’s what progressives do.
So the entrepreneur that finds a better (cheaper) way of doing the same business as you, should be penalized with a tax added to his customer’s bill?
Yes, YOU would want that, but your CONSUMER would not want YOUR idea of a "level" playing field.
Instead of taxing your opponent, the free market should decide. How is he able to under cut you? Is it that his product is lesser quality? Is he trying to sell at a loss? Or, does he have a better business model than you?
If your product/business is better, than you will develop a reputation as having a better product. This forces your competition to either go out of business, or strive to develop a better business/product. If your competition improves, or your competition was better to begin with, then it forces you to make a better business/product.
This is how innovation comes about. The consumer gets the best products at the best price. The businessman runs his business in order to gain the most consumers for the most profit.
When government gets involved....it becomes SNAFU. When you open the door and welcome taxes, be sure more than you expect will follow. Along with taxes comes regulation. Of course, don't expect your competition to sit idly by and watch you destroy him.......he is going to lobby to raise taxes and regulation against YOU.
Under this leftist model (think GM and GE) the object isn't product innovation, but government/regulatory innovation. The consumer gets inferior products at a ridiculous price; not to mention, the "law of unintended consequences" that screws over businesses/products that aren't even related to yours.
That’s exactly right. It gets even more bizarre when you have online sales items shipped through facilities in states where no tax is applied to most online purchases. In New Jersey, for example, products shipped to customers through the new Amazon distribution center will eventually be subject to New Jersey sales tax ... but they will probably not be subject to any sales tax if they are shipped across the state line to Pennsylvania. This makes no sense at all.
A friend of mine told me how to sell groins. These are walls that jut out into a body of water. They slow down and stop erosion as the water flows by. He said all he needed was just one sale and he just about gave that away.
You see, he said, the groin collects sand on one side and erodes it on the other. This would force the person down from him to buy one just to protect himself.
I think of this sales tax issue the same way. That the Internet remains untaxed places a stop on the ability of your locality to raise taxes additionally. There’s an escape valve and if they push you too far they’ll lose 100% of the property and sales tax you now produce. It isn’t any wonder that just after the last continental state was admitted the union that the income tax was passed. There was no escaping from it now into the Arizona territory.
Having a tax free Internet transaction protects you from additional taxes. Let’s not go soft and start trusting politicians to do the right thing. The spending problem that is causing the taxing problem is a politician problem.
Interstate commerce. I would love to have a tariff to protect me too.
Further, if all you are doing is buying something from a manufacturer, marking it up and waiting for customers to walk in, well, FU and F you're business model, too. You deserve to go down along with other historical industries like the horse-pulled chariot and gas lanterns.
IF you're still buttmad about it - why don't you try undercutting his prices and selling without sales tax to people in his state?
Another dollar paid in sales tax is another dollar the government can use to do awful things with. The less dollars they have the better.
I have an honest question.... Let’s say I open a business, take on overhead, employees, etc. Then some guy in another state does the same, but undercuts me on price through the internet. Wouldn’t I want a sales tax to protect my business? Create an even playing field?
Why can’t you compete with the other guy that also has overhead and employees? If your market can be served through the internet then do so and forget the storefront model. Using government to limit competition is just evil. Only companies that should be eliminated pursue that agenda.