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Pennsylvania takes on online auctions [Government forces honest eBay sellers to shut down]
philly.com ^ | Jan. 30, 2008 | Bob Fernandez

Posted on 04/14/2008 8:23:51 AM PDT by grundle

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A stay at home mom with a handicapped child was earning an honest living by selling things on eBay, and her customer approval was 99.9% positive.

But then the government forced her to stop doing that.

The government also forced a drop off auction site with 3 employees to go out of business too.

1 posted on 04/14/2008 8:23:51 AM PDT by grundle
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To: grundle

The STATE government did this?

To people using the INTERNET?

Time for a revolt.


2 posted on 04/14/2008 8:26:45 AM PDT by Rick.Donaldson (http://www.transasianaxis.com - Please visit for lastest on DPRK/Russia/China/et al.)
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To: grundle

Government hates business.
They believe like Democrats that if you are making money, the profits are obscene and should go to a social program.


3 posted on 04/14/2008 8:32:13 AM PDT by westmichman ( God said: "They cry 'peace! peace!' but there is no peace. Jeremiah 6:14)
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To: Rick.Donaldson

Man, what a story. I teach information policy at the grad level and try to get my “young skulls full of mush” to understand that the government does not hold all the answers. We’ve discussed internet taxation policies and other efforts to rein in the internet; this will be a great addition to my collection of war stories.

GD government going after the mother of a disabled child. Have these people no shame? Going after users of new technologies and business models? Have these people no common sense?


4 posted on 04/14/2008 8:35:45 AM PDT by radiohead (I stood up for Fred at the Iowa Caucus. Where were the rest of you so-called conservatives?)
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To: grundle

I used to live in PA. Nothing surprises me that happens there.


5 posted on 04/14/2008 8:36:14 AM PDT by BBell
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To: Bender2

Take a look at this.


6 posted on 04/14/2008 8:36:41 AM PDT by ontap (Just another backstabbing conservative)
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To: grundle

Took the bastards long enough to decide to pull the Gestapo crap.


7 posted on 04/14/2008 8:38:19 AM PDT by ontap (Just another backstabbing conservative)
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To: grundle
"Two bills have been introduced. One would require Internet sellers who run a business to get an electronic auctioneer's license that would cost about $100 a year. The other would leave Internet auctions as the Wild West of retail."

They are DYING TO FIND A WAY TO TAX THE INTERNET FOLKS!!!!!

Both these laws are a horrible step and another one is coming in under the radar.

There is currently a law that "continues" no taxes on the internet, but it is up for renewal soon (in congress). That means that if they don't "renew" it then: 'Oh gosh it looks like we couldn't get that darn thing renewed to prevent taxes and so..."

This is how they SNEAK A P.O.S. into LAW LIKE THIS~!!!!

They see something that is not taxed, pass a law that "continues" not to tax it for a few years (a law that says we will continue to do nothig until...), but then when the law "expires" ooops~! time for a tax on it.

This is how they want to raise taxes but voting not to "continue" the Bush tax cuts too.

ALL TAX INCREASES ARE PERMANENT - all cuts are temporary until they 'expire'

8 posted on 04/14/2008 8:40:36 AM PDT by Mr. K (Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help)
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To: grundle
Certainly if she was using online auctions as a business she would be paying state income tax on her earnings so the state is not missing out on more than a $100 annual license fee. What purpose is there to license auctioneers in the first place other than to keep entrepreneurs like Ms. Pletz out of the business.

I suppose she could quit her business and go on welfare if that is what the state really wants.

9 posted on 04/14/2008 8:42:30 AM PDT by The Great RJ ("Mir we bleiwen wat mir sin" or "We want to remain what we are." ..Luxembourg motto)
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To: grundle

No surprise here. PA is a big government state with a corrupt governor, Fast Eddie Rendell.


10 posted on 04/14/2008 8:42:33 AM PDT by Ikemeister
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To: radiohead

Well, this is certainly a good example of being a bad example, that’s for sure.

The Internet isn’t something that should be “regulated” in ANY manner.

It (Internet) is directly responsible for us not having to listen to the Big Three News agencies (four if you count CNN) - and a reason that FOX News came into being as well.

The Internet has given a lot of people a good start at business - and while you certainly still have to pay taxes, this is a totally ridiculous concept to start going after people selling items on eBay, by, if not taxing the hell out of them, forcing them to get “licenses”.

The “auctioneer” isn’t the person, in this case, it’s a web site. The PERSON is a SELLER by any rules and laws you want to look at. eBay merely enables the person to sell their stuff for a higher price by getting bids, so forcing individuals to get a “license” is nothing more than taking a whack at people like this lady.


11 posted on 04/14/2008 8:42:50 AM PDT by Rick.Donaldson (http://www.transasianaxis.com - Please visit for latest on DPRK/Russia/China/et al.)
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To: grundle

A “nuanced” decision by any element of government is deciding whether to use the big club or the great big club.


12 posted on 04/14/2008 8:44:23 AM PDT by RobinOfKingston (Man, that's stupid ... even by congressional standards.)
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To: Rick.Donaldson

“Time for a revolt.”

At least time for a serious a** whupping. Their greed and intrusiveness know no bounds.


13 posted on 04/14/2008 8:45:08 AM PDT by dljordan
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To: grundle

I think federal preemption should shut those state desk jockey socialists down.


14 posted on 04/14/2008 8:45:58 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: grundle

People hate freedom, for the most part. They should be just fine with this bit of tyranny. After all, there are doritos to eat and professional sports to watch.


15 posted on 04/14/2008 8:46:31 AM PDT by mysterio
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To: grundle
Seems to me that E-Bay software is the auctioneer, not the seller of the goods.
16 posted on 04/14/2008 8:49:09 AM PDT by Ditto (Global Warming: The 21st Century's Snake Oil)
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To: grundle
Amoros, the state spokeswoman, said investigations were a "complaint-driven" process but those complaints are confidential. "

A sure way to induce "death by a thousand cuts" to your buisness competition is to sic the government on them.

I did software programming for a county govt agency once- THOSE WERE THE MOST INCOMPETANT PEOPLE I EVER MET.

One was a database administrator who could not turn on the database - AND HE WAS A MANAGER. Another read the paper all day, another printed boxes of computer printouts that were then taken directly to an incinerator, another ran a 30 year old mainframe that took about 100 people to operate that could be replaced with one modern desktop server... They spent a quarter-million on a database program that we tried to tell them we could do ourselves in 3 hours...and this is the tip of the iceburg folks!

Your tax dollars at work

17 posted on 04/14/2008 8:52:23 AM PDT by Mr. K (Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help)
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To: BBell

Don’t they call it the Socialist Republic of Pennsylvania? I heard the the state workers all greet each other by Comrade...


18 posted on 04/14/2008 8:54:59 AM PDT by databoss
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To: radiohead

I saw someone on C SPAN yesterday morning - my TIVO is out for repair but I wish I could have tivo’d it.

I think his name was Grover Nyquist and he headed a tax reform agency. He was answering questions on how taxes are destroying the economy. He took a question from a black journalist about Obama.

He said he didn’t think “Obama had thought out the consequences” of his policies. He said basically Obama was going to tax small businesses at the rate of about 55%. He also said Obama was going to take a billion dollar sledgehammer to the economy if he did what he said he was going to do.

My son just paid his first small business tax - he says now he wants to go out and get a regular job. His brother earned three times as much and paid half the tax. And that was only 15%.


19 posted on 04/14/2008 9:02:12 AM PDT by I still care ("Remember... for it is the doom of men that they forget" - Merlin, from Excalibur)
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To: I still care
My son just paid his first small business tax - he says now he wants to go out and get a regular job. His brother earned three times as much and paid half the tax. And that was only 15%.

Most people believe that the high cost of living, and spiraling costs everywhere is due to greed or the "cost of doing business." They could not be more mistaken.

It is to cost of paying taxes at all levels, permit fees, and a huge, faceless, unresponsive bureaucracy.
Incompetent? That's putting a human face on it. "Criminal" is more accurate. And it's not going away any time soon.

20 posted on 04/14/2008 9:29:33 AM PDT by Publius6961 (MSM: Israelis are killed by rockets; Lebanese are killed by Israelis.)
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