In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Oliver Wong
<owong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote
on Thu, 10 Aug 2006 21:14:48 GMT
<clNCg.1234$365.137@edtnps89>:
>
> "The Ghost In The Machine" <ewill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:nhesq3-oce.ln1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Oliver Wong
>> <owong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> wrote
>> on Thu, 10 Aug 2006 16:06:12 GMT
>> <UPICg.932$365.358@edtnps89>:
>
>>> (2) How PR-oblivious would a senator have to be the "we're value
>>> adding"
>>> statement? If there's one things politicians understand, that asking
>>> people
>>> to give away their money is very bad PR.
>
> I kept reformulating that phrase, and it looks like it came out as a
> mess now. Here's what I meant to say:
>
> How PR-oblivious would a senator have to be *to make* the "we're value
> adding" statement? If there's one thing politicians understand, *it's* that
> asking people to give away their money is very bad PR.
So they take it, instead. :-) *After* they're reelected.
>
>>
>> This is not a giveaway or takeaway. This is a requirement
>> to fairly tax. At least, such would be my spin, were I
>> actually stupid enough to go along with this proposal.
>
> Actually, the most infuriating part is the senator implying he's doing
> you a favor by taking your money. "The consumers should be happy: their
> software was previously worth $0, but now it's worth $600!" It insults the
> intelligence of the listener.
Perhaps. But the modern nation-state requires
money, and if freeware is worth something but nobody
pays for it, things like this might get proposed.
(A similar proposal is perambulating around the
Internet regarding taxation of the Internet.
There's even an organized consortium for tracking
tax rates. An admittedly very old case therefor is at
http://www.nathannewman.org/other/TechReview-InternetTaxDrain.html
. An article dated 2003-02-06
suggests etailers are charging sales tax:
http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/1580441 .
Apparently, it's called the Streamlined Sales Tax Project,
at http://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/ .)
There is of course the flip side: an artificial scarcity is even worse.
This is fortunately not an issue with readily-duplicable freeware,
of course.
>
> - Oliver
>
--
#191, ewill3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Windows Vista. Because it's time to refresh your hardware. Trust us.
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