Pay: new South Dakota e-tax really an income tax

South Dakota native and former resident now Wisconsin policy wonk, Donald Pay just called Republican legislator, Lee Schoenbeck a liar.

I don’t understand the need for some to try to hide from the truth. To them, apparently, the truth isn’t the truth.

No one paid this tax before. There was no real infrastructure in place to collect the tax. There was a Supreme Court case stating states couldn’t collect this tax. There was the hope that some out-of-state retailers would voluntarily collect money somewhat equivalent to the amount of a sales tax and remit that money to the state. Some did, most didn’t. There was the hope that state taxpayers would voluntarily pay the amount equivalent to a sales tax. Some did, most didn’t. I wasn’t aware that voluntary contributions were taxes, but truth isn’t truth, you know.

Don’t pretend this is not a new tax. I’m OK with this new tax, by the way. This new tax will hit the middle class and the wealthy harder than the poor, because most poor folk aren’t buying much on-line. It is, in essence, an income tax disguised as a sales tax, since the wealthier among us have long used these catalogue and on-line purchases to skip paying their fair share of taxes. Even with this new semi-income tax in place the wealthy get by without paying their fair share. The money collected should go toward elimination of the tax on food purchases. [Donald Pay, blog comment]