Walking Tall or Not at All

            The Big Noise Movin’ From Winnetka this week?  Online state sales taxes, sometimes called ‘Gouge the Poor’ taxes because sales taxes help keep state income taxes low.  State money grabbers see online revenues as easily obtainable guilt-free windfall wealth.  Just blame congress and go back to state and local easing of the terrible burdens on corporations, industrialists, and universities.

            Unfortunately this plan hurts individuals.  The single mom who ekes out a living selling stuff on eBay is the victim of this plan.  For some, that makes it a good plan, because people struggling to survive in our hostile economy are sometimes too busy to vote.  It also sets up the concept of a national value-added-tax.  And don’t be foolish enough to think THAT isn’t in some screwball’s plan book.

            Here’s an idea: if congress endorses online sales taxes, don’t give the money to the states.  Instead, collect from all online sales and use the revenue to pay down our national debt.  All anybody in the right-of-center political pot seems to worry about is the deficit and the debt.  Since they hold the country hostage on economic issues like jobs and taxes, why don’t these Deficit / Debt Scolds take the state spend-monkeys out of the picture, and sling online sales tax revenues at the monster that frightens them most: the national debt?  Around here that seems a lot like walking your talk.  Unless…maybe it’s just talk.  Maybe it was never meant to be walked.