California Lawmaker Proposes Music Download Tax

modemac writes "Sacramento, California Assemblyman Charles Calderon wants to expand a 75-year-old sales tax on 'tangible personal property' to include music downloads from iTunes and other music-download sites. The tax would specifically apply to music downloads, but the estimate used in this article for revenue generated by 'Net downloading also "includes pornography downloads." The measure, AB 1956, will be considered on Monday, April 14th."

tax deduction

[Anonymous Coward]

Does this mean we might be able to get a tax deduction for pr0n?

Silicone valley

[esocid]

Since all the pr0n is from California anyway, does this mean we owe back taxes from all those free downloads?

Re:Silicone valley

[wattrlz]

That depends: is there a pr0n lobby?

Re:Tangible Personal Property?

[bbernard]

"After all, if someone gets near it with a magnet, there goes your "tangible" property. The same cannot be said for a car"

That depends on the size of your magnet.

Re:Seems to encourage piracy...

[djasbestos]

Well, unlike tea, music downloads can't be dumped into the harbor...so much for "tangible"...I guess the closest thing would be filling up this asshat's hard drive with Rick Astley.

Is there a credit for uploading?

[overshoot]

Of course, every page visited is a download, so in principle they could just tax all traffic.

Given that this is California, that could take quite a byte out of the deficit.

Re:Silicone valley

[oahazmatt]

That depends: is there a pr0n lobby?

Yeah, but the floors are filthy.

Re:tax deduction

[value_added]

Does this mean we might be able to get a tax deduction for pr0n?

Only if you're filing as an individual. If you're filing jointly, you have bigger problems than your tax liability.

I've been trying without success to claim deductions for blackjack and hookers for years, so my advice is to just pay up. And don't forget to leave a tip.

Re:Tangible Personal Property?

[Tetsujin]

"After all, if someone gets near it with a magnet, there goes your "tangible" property. The same cannot be said for a car"

That depends on the size of your magnet.

Excellent point, Mister... Coyote, was it?