Internet Sales Tax

Internet Sales Tax might work if we could find a way to do it but so far no luck.

I need your help, your creativity, your advanced thinking.

As governor of a small state, I have to write out alot of checks to pay for stuff for my people. What stuff? Everything you can imagine from education for my people, to insurance auditors to fire fighters or police to protect the safety and belongings of my people and anything else that "we" actually need.

Each year it averages one million dollars to pay for the essentials. People of my small state all pitch in according to their ability to cover this million dollars in expenses because it is "for us".

The way we have done this is through a "sales tax". It works out to be pretty fair because the poor don't buy as much and the rich buy alot. We work together to raise this money because overall our entire village is helping each other have the benefit of these services we pay for together.

Then the internet was invented and at first it was a real great thing because we were able to buy from anywhere in the world and it reduced our cost of living. Our people were very happy.

But as time went on the internet sales replaced almost all of the local business people sales...and we lost many jobs. At the same time we lost almost all our "sales tax" too, and that is how we had the money in the bank to pay for the stuff we, the citizens of this community needed.

So as the leader of my people, I am needing to find a way to gather money to pay for the services and "stuff" that we provide for our community. Help us if you can with your thoughts.

Some of our thinkers are still stuck on doing it the old way...sales tax...just find a way to get sales tax from purchases we make online. But that isn't working out too good.

So far I haven't heard any good ideas on how to gather that same kind of income in this new kind of world we live in. Maybe there is one that is high tech enough to work but I've seen alot of other villages try stuff to keep this source of income in place but one way or another it has failed to replace the lost income and even ended up causing even more of our people to lose jobs.

So I'm using this new invention "the internet" to use you, and anybody you can consult, for wisdom, for advice. I'm using this posting to ask for a volunteer think-tank. Our "sales tax" isn't bringing in the million dollars we need anymore, it has been dropping by 100,000 dollars a year.

We are losing our ability in my little state, to provide any services that our citizens need and benefit from. So I'm needing, my people are needing...your wisdom.

Unless we find a way to keep our sales tax system and just apply it somehow to the internet sales too...then we are going to have to do away with our sales tax system all together and find some other answer that will be fair and bearable for my people and hopefully even help us prosper. That is fine too, but even for that we have to come up with something that will work.

Many tribal governments have done this with Casino gambling. Churches do this with contributions. Yet neither of those "communities" have to come up with as much money as we do for what we do as a "state".

Any rants about taxes? Don't do it here in this forum, I'll delete it, because I agree...none of us like having to pay for anything. And I and all my people would be most glad to do away with taxes if we can find some other way to fund our community services and stuff that makes our state peaceful and profitable for us.


Thanks for your help, Sincerely!

"Governor"

This particular picture isn't from my little state.  But it shows the kind of stuff we write checks for for our community. 

•  K-12 public schools for our kids
•  Colleges and scholarships and training schools and funding to help our people become employable
  
• Police and Fire and Prisons to protect our people
  
• Plant and Animal and Building and Bridge inspectors, etc.
  
• water resource management and groundwater inspections, and hazardous waste control
  
• statewide disease control and health and safety and assistance to the needy
• much more, but this post is to get your input on replacing our lost sales tax income if doing away with sales tax all together is replaceable...or a solution for internet sales tax if THAT is the best way.  Please Submit Wise Possible Ideas.
  

New Colorado Law  http://milehighmarketing.com/2010/03/08/amazon-cancels-colorado-based-amazon-associates/

That has already been tried and proven to be a bad idea http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2010/02/03/affiliate-tax-battle-heats-up-in-colorado.aspx

Don't need rants or complaints. That doesn't cover the checks I've got to write next year. We need ideas, brain storming, wisdom, advice...positive stuff, stuff that might actually work. A system that you would want for your own state.

Thanks for your help, Sincerely!

Your turn to be Governor: