LinuxLingam wrote:
> understanding from you that taxation tries to be deliberately
> detached from the factors i have been mentioning, and works solely on
> the principle you mention of 'tax whatever the government can'
> popular or unpopular, at the government's sole discretion,
Yes. Remember, the point of being Sovreign is that you are not answerable
to anyone. Politically, our infrastructure is derived from the conflicts
between 1385 and the early 1800s in England, between Parliament and the
King. Current law is that Parliament (which includes both houses and the
President) can tax what it likes, and the courts do not have a right to look
inside. Taxes will not be too unpopular in the long run (MPs get voted
out), but that does not remove from Parliament the _right_ to levy such a
tax.
However, this is true ONLY of taxes. If the Govt charges a "fee", the
courts have a right to look at it; a "fee" implies service, and the terms of
that service can be questioned. The terms of a "tax" cannot be questioned.
You can go to court and claim that you paid for issue of a driving licence
and got your name spelt wrong. You cannot go to court claiming you paid
excise and never got any benefits.
> i obviously wonder,
>
> why is software not yet taxed for excise?
Because of distortionary policies; similar to why agricultural income is not
taxed. The fiscally "correct" way is to tax Software at the same rate you
tax everything else, and explicitly put many back in.
> or may be it was at some point in its history, i do not know, i
> confess. in case it was, then why was it removed?
Customs duties on SW import were removed as part of the Uruguay round of
GATT, although I think they were ratified and implemented around 3 years
ago. All members agreed to reduce import barriers to software imports.
Please note that countries may, and do, tax the CD-R on which the software
is imported ;-)
The reasons are not clear to me, but the were of the sort that "Software is
special, mumble mumble and helps to mumble development in a special mumble
mumble development and development." WTO agreements are by consensus, so
the paperwork has to keep every one's pet mumbo jumbo in.
--
Sanjeev
================================================
To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe in subject header.
Check archives at http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd%40wpaa.org
