Tipperton wrote:the.weavster wrote:As I recall you were the only one who got heated not SFSxOI, then you threw your rattle out of your pram when another op (I think it was Paul) very politely asked you to cool your jets.
STFU, I wasn't talking to you.
the.weavster wrote:Of course these things are beyond the comprehension of an unprincipled heathen such as myself but I have to confess I'm surprised to find tax evasion is acceptable to you when piracy isn't.
You are wrong again. It would be totally legal for me to go to a reservation and buy tax free cigarettes for my own personal use. However the county has no way a knowing if cigarettes being shipped in from these web sites are for personal use or for resale so they impose taxed on all shipments into to the county.
I assume your talking about the Indian Reservation. It may be perfectly legal for you to go to the reservation to buy tax free cigarettes for personal use. But having had a lot of experience myself with states laws and reservations I can gurantee you 100% that the tax free part was only really ever intended for residents of the reservation and if you bring a tax free item from the reservation into the state that it becomes subject to state tax (or in some cases local or county tax). As long as it remains on the reservation its not subject to state tax, but once you cross into the state it is, there may also be local or county taxes imposed. And thats 100% fact in all 50 states in the U.S., its (federally) part of whats called States Rights which gives states the authority to levy tax on all items crossing their borders which are bound for use or consumption in the state and its also codified somewhere in the tax laws for all 50 states. The rule of thumb is - if its taxed when you buy it in the state then its subject to tax if you bring it from the reservation into the state. It may or may not be enforced, but its still subject, and even if exempted it does not mean that its not still taxable and all exemption means is that they choose not to enforce it at that time (or period of time). So yes, you did evade the tax laws plain and simple regardless of how much you want to believe otherwise.
And yes you did cross state borders. An indian reservation is basically a sovereign nation/state within the confines of U.S. territory on federal land granted to the tribe for that use where the U.S. government has concurrent jurisdisction. Simply because this land is also located in a state does not mean its state land or part of the state. When you enter the reservation you are leaving the state and crossing the borders of the reservation. When you leave the reservation you are crossing the borders of the state.
There is more money lost in tax revenue every year in the U.S. alone by actions such as yours then software/music/movie pirates could ever cause if every single piece of software, movie, or music, produced for the next 200 years were pirated. Need a mental picture comparison? Look at it this way, all piracy/infringment would be a new born baby flea on a dog, and your tax evaison actions combined with all the others would be the whole dog.
The difference between the two?
When tax money is collected its used for society benefit as a whole (police, fire, education, etc...), when the money is not collected then society as a whole suffers and does without. You and I and our families lose (we dont get that much needed increase in police protection, or that new fire station or equipment, or those books the schools need, etc...).
If money from piracy is collected it goes into the pockets of big content and if its not collected they do a tax write off and still get it back in tax breaks and never lose anything, and at any rate they write off things in taxes every year that would have already paid for the economic mess we are in now at least 10 times when all of big content is considered a whole (major software/movie/music). Then on top of that these industries want the governemnet to expend billions over years to combat piracy when what they should be combatting other things.
And all the rabid anti-piracy freaks are cheering them on without giving any consideration at all to whats really happening. All you have to do is ask yourself two questions, "How much of what big content collects from persecuting piracy do i get? and "How much do I benefit from having the things that tax dollars pays for? - just those two questions and anyone can answer the question their self as to where the priority should lie. No, piracy is not harming the economy, tax evaision and about a hundred other different things are. Piracy doesn't harm the economy because society as a whole would not and will not see a penny of that money because big content writes it off in taxes each year or takes advantage of tax breaks and loop holes we as normal mortal humans don't have available to us.
I'm not condoning piracy, but i think our priority should lie elsewhere, and one of them should be to put focus where its needed instead of lining the pockets of big content.
The harm comes from people who did the very thing you did. So have you decided if your going to be friends with your self anymore?
Sooo...persecute tax evaders or persecute pirates? Hmmm...lets see - evaders or pirates...hmmm I choose tax evaders. Selecting the correct priority set in life is important, and you gave away a friendship for nothing.
Now, doesn't knowing that you rank higher on the harm scale then pirates make you want a cigarette?
I wonder how the last few posts could have been re-phrased as a *working example* of constructive criticism...
now we wait for the, "He started it!", "No, You called me a @#$$ first and I just responded", "No but in the other thread you called me a #$%#$ before that!" ...
And the.weavester apparently likes pushing peoples buttons. Do you know what we call people like that? Bullies. I've had enough of bullies to fill several lifetimes. This forum may not have an ignore feature but I can certainly ignore him, he's not worth the aggravation.
