Real World Needs 'Net' Taxes

Do you think that billionaire Internet moguls should continue to benefit from a tax loophole that hurts parks and schools, and makes it harder for your neighborhood bookstore to keep open for business?

The populist appeal from Mr. Gomes really frosts my Wheaties.

For starters, by giving online businesses a permanent advantage over their bricks-and-mortar competitors, it helps those who need it least -- huge, profitable e-commerce companies -- at the expense of often-struggling local retailers

He is only calling out Amazon by name, so I suppose he has in mind Jeff Bezos.

What about all of the non-billionaires that work for Amazon who benefit? What about the mom n' pop shops that benefit? Rammro was pretty much a two person business - if my wife had been able to follow through with the ecommerce idea, she'd benefit from lack of a sales tax ... and we're certainly not billionaires. I know a guy who runs an online comic book store and also a technical video rental outfit - he's certainly no billionaire.

If Texas and New York want to tax internet sales, well that's what the State does - finds new and creative ways to skim money from the the taxpayer. Getting mad at the lege in Austin is like being personally irked at finding a rat snake in your chicken coop. Get rid of the snake, but it's just doing what snakes do.

But don't pretend that all ecommerce sites are run by rich guys with gold-plated servers.

'Cause they aren't.