Internet Sales Tax-- Another means of stealing $ from the poor

Oh, those poor, poor bricks n' mortar stores..

Woe is Thee!

Oh, not 'mom & pop' independent businesses.. Blehh.. Who in power ever cares about them?

No we mean those corporate chains like Wally World (Wal-Mart), Targeé (Target) and Least-Best Buy..  Those poor beautiful creatures!    They just can't seem to compete for lowest prices with those meanie Internet sites like Amazon and eBay...

Of course let's put aside the fact they do not want to compete-- most stores like Best Buy have rather begrudgingly accepted price matching of items on Amazon and Wal-Mart is such a fucked up mess of a corporation that they will not even honor and adjust lower prices in-store where the discount is found on their own website!

And let's put aside other advantages those physical stores have to online such as the immediacy of taking an item home vs waiting 1-5 business days, better return policies usually and for those stores that actually care about such quaint things, knowledgeable staff on hand to answer questions..

Nope.. Those poor bricks n' mortar stores.. See, they're at a disadvantage so they say...  They have to charge sales tax and for the most part those dirty bird online retailers don't..

Its enough to make a grown woman or man cry ~sniffle

Of course anyone who's owned or help run a business know that not 100% of all sales tax is turned in by the merchant to the state.  By turning in state taxes before deadline, the store gets to keep a percentage of that sales tax for themselves...

Nice scam, eh!

And lets put aside all the benefits major corporations receive for moving into a particular state..  For instance, Amazon is now accepting sales tax in Pennsylvania and California.. Why?  Because both states gave them lucrative, tax free deals to open distribution centers in those states in exchange for collecting taxes in those states...

As always, its the worker-bees who will be paying into the system to cover both themselves and their employer, then be thankful to Zeus for the opportunity to have a boss keep them in line 40hrs a week...

So there's great pressure upon the crooked politicians to enact an additional tax upon the poor, and yes that is what the state sales tax is-  a flat tax on all people of all income levels based on the purchasing of goods and services, and adjusted not based on what one brings in or what's in their savings account but item cost.

If you make $20k or less, you're not supposed to have anything nice... You're not supposed to have the means to purchase any item of quality.  So if you do, the more it costs, the more the state will steal from you while those better off who can afford to pay more, will pay the same rate and feel less pain.

And vendors like Amazon and eBay were the last hope..   Well Amazon used to be part of the good guys until they turned traitor..

Now the jackals are at the door... The Senate is trying once again to introduce a Internet sales tax and rush it through with as little to no debate and discussion as possible..

From Wall Street Journal (in blue font)

"Every time Congress has taken a serious look at proposals to boost Internet sales taxes, it has rejected them. That's probably why pro-tax Senators are trying to rush through an online tax hike with as little consideration as possible.

As early as Monday, the Senate will vote on a bill that was introduced only last Tuesday...

For Senators curious about what they're voting on, it is the same flawed proposal that Mike Enzi (R., Wyo.) introduced in February. It has been repackaged to qualify for a Senate rule that allows Majority Leader Harry Reid to bypass committee debate and bring it straight to the floor. 

The Enzi plan would require a centralized tax collector for each state or for a group of states that would gather both state and local levies from the online merchants...

The drivers of this rush to tax are Wal-Mart and other big retailers that can more easily absorb the costs of collection than can smaller competitors. Also supporting the bill is Internet giant Amazon, which coincidentally now sells its own tax compliance service to other merchants. 

Adding to the lobbying muscle are state and local governments. The politicians believe they'll collect tens of billions of dollars in taxes that are already owed by shoppers on remote sales but rarely paid. 

So big business and big government are uniting to pursue their mutual interest in sticking it to the little guy"

Yep.. Exactly..

Of course the White House is on board too..  "The White House today endorsed the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would be a tax hike for purchases made over the Internet. The White House claims the tax would "level playing field for local retailers.""  (Weekly Standard)

We're still waiting for the Obama Administration do to something, really Anything to make the lives of the millions and millions of his loyal supporters; the lives of the working classes and the poor actually Better; to put more money in their pockets or at least keep the little left they have..

Amazing what you can get away with when your party affiliation is (D)

So back to corporations:

Why compete for the customer's business by offering the best prices or improve service when you can just use government via all that lobbying money to cut the legs of those Internet retailers who offer better prices and value..

Big Business has already done a successful job destroying the ability of small business and independent sellers to survive on an even level playing field of bricks and mortar..  Gotta now destroy the 2nd hand vendor and eBay merchant too...

And all to supposedly generate this magical tax revenue that could be acquired just as easily by states through increasing income tax for those who make $1mil/yr or more, or instituting a luxury tax on those who buy Cartier diamonds or $150k automobiles..

Nope..gotta crush Internet shopping and then increase taxes on 'vices' like cigarettes and alcohol why pushing other vices such as lottery and casino gambling via heavy TV advertising..

The way things are going, it looks like we'll be taking bi-weekly trips to Delaware (no state sales tax) to buy everything we need..  A bit of a hassle yes but anytime one can rebel and legally middle-finger state or Federal government, its worth it.

Playboy 1979: Dennis Kucinich on Economic Democracy, Corporate Monopoly & Greed

* Warning, this posting contains pics with nudity (some full nudity) so if that offends, do not continue.  We promise none of the nude photos are of Dennis Kucinich

Sometimes when thinking about the global economy; how utterly corrupt it is and fully controlled by corporations, bank and professional Investors, there is a tendency to think of it as a modern phenomenon..

As if all the problems started a mere decade ago or specifically on a President's watch; a President we may have personal dislikes and biases toward...

"All this mess started with George W. Bush, that incompetent.."

"All this mess started with Clinton, that classless horny bastard.."

"All this mess started with Reagan, that senile old fool.."

~ Miss June 1979 Playmate Louann Fernald

Obviously corruption goes back thousands of years.. greed and power and control over others seem to be part of the human DNA.  Some are content to retain control of their work space, their homes or themselves; others need control over others' spirits..

Still its interesting when its talked about in historical records like interviews.  Something quaint about it, as if to think, 'You thought corporate control over freedom and democracy was bad Then?!  Ha!  If you only knew the future...'

In the June 1979 issue of Playboy, current Democrat Congressman and at the time Mayor of Cleveland, Dennis Kucinich was the main interview.  He was dealing with a lot of corruption and causing friction in Cleveland with his governing style  (to oversimplify a bit, picture a thinner, shorter Democrat version of current NJ governor Chris Christie) and Playboy sought to learn more about him...

We wanted to post some excerpts from the 34 year old interview on areas that are of interest in the present to show that all this time can pass (Jimmy Carter was President then) and in many ways, nothing ever seems to get resolved or even gets better..

The enemies to one having a good quality of life then are the same as today...

From Playboy (in blue font):

Playboy:  You've been waging battles of all kinds since you've become mayor.  What's all the controversy about?

Kucinich:  It's about the fact that democracy in this country is often a myth.  And that the roads that will return this country to a democratic society are blocked by corporate highwaymen.

Playboy:  What do you mean, a myth?  You were elected mayor... Democracy seems alive and well in Cleveland.

Kucinich:  We don't have economic democracy.  And economic democracy is a pre-condition to political democracy.  A tremendous amount of wealth in this country is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands...   Party politics in America today is all but defunct.  

The two party system is merging into the one party under the banner of a corporate state.  If you have great corporations of America running this country- or a city- you don't have political democracy... you have corporate dictatorship.

We stop there a second..

Think about all you Kucinich spoke of.. this is 1979-- Most people were still listening to 8-track tapes in their cars... This is all before Reagan came into office in 1980, and deregulated Wall St allowing corporations to truly grow in economic and political size & scope..

Continuing, Kucinich addresses corporate influence in news reporting...

Playboy:  (Do) you feel you're challenging such a dictatorship in Cleveland?

Kucinich:  Yes; specifically, the right of a bank or a private utility to dictate political decisions to the people of a city or its elected representatives.  

It shows up in things like this:  You have a Cleveland reporter who does investigative work on utilities and he's pulled off of it because of pressure from the utilities, who are worried he's going to be overly critical of them at a time they're trying to acquire the public electric system....

Continuing, Kucinich addresses a war for survival among small businesses.

Playboy:  You're making most of your charges against big business.  What about the smaller businessman?

Kucinich:  Is anyone really on the side of small businessmen?  Hell no!  Their often chased out of their neighborhoods when a city can not afford to provide them with adequate police and fire protection; they're often denied an opportunity to stay in business because they can't get fire insurance of loans because of discrimination in lending...

What a screwed up way to run a country- to continue to ask the poor people and the working people to subsidize the profits of big business while big business continues its monopoly practices, its price fixing, which further deteriorates the position of the poor people and working people...

Yep.. spoken in 1979..  When most people dressed terribly and you could buy a Datsun hatchback for around $4,800

The last part of the interview we present deals with Playboy questioning if Kucinich himself has a greed motive

Playboy:  Most of your blasts against business people and corrupt government officials comes down to one thing: greed.  But why shouldn't your motives be questioned too?  Why doesn't money interest you?

Kucinich:  I am not interested in money.  I think Gandhi had the right ideas on materialism.

Playboy:  How do you escape that drive that seems to fuel the rest of us?

Kucinich:  I've learned to live without money for a while. Or with a little bit of it.  My own happiness isn't conditioned on material things.  I'm interested in ideas, not in acquiring things... But I just don't need the traditional things that make politicians happy.

Playboy:  What are they?

Kucinich:  Money and Money [Laughter]

~ Well said...