Path: utzoo!telly!moore!ziebmef!stephen
From: stephen@ziebmef.uucp (Stephen M. Dunn)
Newsgroups: can.general
Subject: Re: A ?new? Proposal (was Re: Tax Revolt Now!!)
Summary: electronic purchasing - the elimination of money
Keywords: our tax load is revolting ... why aren't we?
Message-ID: <1989Aug16.094939.1446@ziebmef.uucp>
Date: 16 Aug 89 13:49:38 GMT
References: <1989Aug14.231027.11461@lsuc.on.ca> <1989Aug15.135601.12057@tmsoft.uucp>
Reply-To: stephen@ziebmef.UUCP (Stephen M. Dunn)
Organization: Ziebmef Public Access Unix, Toronto, Ontario
Lines: 37

In article <1989Aug15.135601.12057@tmsoft.uucp> mason@tmsoft.UUCP (Dave Mason) writes:
[...]
$2) We will soon have the hardware in place that we could have a
$capital transfer tax.  If all `money' where kept in computers & we
$used a debit card to buy everything from a house to a corporation to a
$bubble gum, the government could skim some small amount (1-5%) off
$EVERY transfer of money.  The costs of collection would be even lower,
$it would be relatively painless, and in some sense it would be very
$fair.

   Looking at this from a practical ponit of view (I'll leave the economic
view to someone more qualified to comment than I am), this isn't going to
happen, at least for many, many years.  Can you imagine little Davey Mason
Jr. going up to the counter in the store with a pack of hockey cards in his
left hand and a debit card in his right hand?

   And also, what happens to such things as social clubs which sell
refreshments (e.g. cans of pop) to their members during their meetings?  Are
they going to have to install some sort of computer just so they can sell
$.50 cans of pop to their members?  When several people need stuff and one
of them goes to the store, buys all the stuff, and then gets his friends to
pay him back, how's that going to work?  Or does he have to collect their
debit cards when he goes, leaving them without access to their cash, and then
stand in line and present five different debit cards to the cashier, saying
"Charge $5.79 to this card, and $8.57 to that one ... no, maybe that should
be $6.22 on this card and $7.38 on that one, and $2.87 on mine ..."?

   I wouldn't mind seeing a greater use of electronic funds (although, as a
consumer, I'd rather have a credit card than a debit card, since it is
quite possible to sensibly use a credit card and avoid paying interest on
your purchases); however, I personally don't think that the elimination of
non-electronic forms of money is something we'll see in the near future.
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
! Stephen M. Dunn              stephen@ziebmef.UUCP ! DISCLAIMER:  Who'd ever !
!---------------------------------------------------! claim such dumb ideas?  !
! I have become comfortably numb ...                ! I sure as heck wouldn't !