Aliens = bad news.

States are continuously pushing to charge sales tax for online purchases. Of course, this has been almost impossible due to the fact a business cannot possibly report/pay/calculate taxes to every single state/city from which a person buys a product. It would be too expensive and too time consuming.

So, some states are getting inventive. Rather than force the business to report on who buys what, the person buying may now be required to report the amount of purchases they make online. Once reported, they will owe the state/city the amount necessary.

New York is taking a stiff arm approach by saying: "If we find out you have made purchases you haven't reported to us, not only are you going to be liable for the amount owed, the tax liability, but also interest and penalties, which...could be up to three times as much as what you actually owe."

The truth is, collecting this tax is a hard business. It's much like the same problem the income tax had all those years ago: voluntary compliance usually ends in no compliance. Which is fine by me.

Lew Rockwell sums up the issue quickly: "Unless we assume the taxman has the moral right to your entire income, I don't feel anyone should be obligated to pay the use tax ... They already extract so much from us with little in return, just wars and welfare and general social trouble. The idea that we should turn over more is just outrageous."

Stupid taxes.

Don't die.