Considering Politics, Culture And Nonsense Since 2009

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Tax Day Outrage!

I just paid the taxes that I owed ($4) to the State of Indiana for the pittance I earned while working as a college student. But I have to say that I am outraged! The state tacked on an addition $1.10 tax just to pay electronically! That amounted to an additional 27.5% in taxes that I was forced to pay, as an unwitting too-lazy-to-write-a-check tax filer! I think this is incredibly bad policy, but brings to the fore one of the more interesting issues of the Internet-purchasing-heyday. How much are people willing to pay in additional fees (often slyly disguised as "convenience fees" or some other farse)? Ticketmaster is the master of these obscene taxes, in fact it has no business model without them. But really, should I have to pay an additional 27.5% in tax (to a government website no less) because I pay online? I don't think so -- in fact I think we should incentivize online transactions for all the obvious reasons.

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