J.D. Tuccille Debates Thom Hartmann Over Internet Sales Taxes

As long as Internet sales taxes don’t apply to my state in
which we’ve chosen to not implement a sales tax I have no problem
with those of you who wish to voluntarily pay more taxes doing
so.

I agree, and this is a validation of the idea of taxing sales at
the delivery point.

There is however another angle that alarms me. To put in
place any type of system that regulates tax collection on the web
is going to require substantial, and even greater, governmental
encroachment.

Agreed, this is problematic and may be a deal breaker for me on
the idea of applying sales taxes to internet sales.

With a tax system the next obvious requirement will be the
need to I.D. all users, to monitor what they’re buying, how much
they’re spending. Ultimately, what everyone is doing, when, where,
how much and with whom.

This does not logically follow.
It is currently impossible to engage in completely anonymous
internet commerce. No further encroachment on internet users is
necessary to implement a sales tax on internet sales.