Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!psuvax1!ukma!xanth!mcnc!ecsvax!ehr
From: ehr@ecsvax.UUCP (Ernest H. Robl)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Software: why does sales tax apply?
Summary: software is not the only area with this tax question
Message-ID: <7453@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: 8 Aug 89 19:59:13 GMT
References: <5050@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> <555@halley.UUCP>
Organization: UNC Educational Computing Service
Lines: 39



In connection with the ongoing discussion as  to whether one should
have to pay sales tax on software:

This is not the only area where this problem comes up.  Photographers
who sell to publications often have the same problem.  (For those
not familiar with the field, there's such a thing called "stock
photography" where the publication buys rights to the use of a
particular picture but the photographer retains rights to physical
image and can later sell rights to it to another client.

I deal with this while wearing my other hat -- that of 
freelance writer/photographer.)

Why bring this up in a computer newsgroup?  Because the real 
problem is dealing with the state (or sometimes Federal) tax
people who don't understand their own regulations, if they know
anything about them at all.  With the volume of business that I
currently do with my photography, most of my income from that area
would be eaten up if I had to employ the services of an accountant
and an attorney.  Yet it appears to be very difficult for the small
businessperson to get along without them.

I often feel that the current tangle of regulations is stacked 
against the small enterpreneur, whether he's providing photos or
software.  I really don't care so much if I have to collect sales
(or use) tax for certain activities or products, as long as someone
can tell me clearly WHEN I have to collect it.  Since I'm apparently
one of only a handful of people in North Carolina dealing in stock
photography, the N.C. tax people never have any clear answers.

Well, that's my $0.02 for this discussion.  -- Ernest

-- 
My opinions are my own and probably not IBM-compatible.--ehr
Ernest H. Robl  (ehr@ecsvax)  (919) 684-6269 w; (919) 286-3845 h
Systems Specialist (Tandem System Manager), Library Systems,
027 Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, NC  27706  U.S.A.