IMHO...this is a bad idea. As already mentioned above, much of the money spent has already been taxed as income or otherwise. Let's remember that in addition to state taxes there are a boat load of local taxes to consider. The responsibility of collecting the myriad of potential taxes will be a huge burden to all, and might squeeze out small business and ergo competition and innovation, especially for upstart direct marketing companies. Then there is the issue of how much it will cost to audit and inspect all these enterprises? And who will be responsible for it? The government, the IRS? Politicians love more government jobs, with more potential to gather greater campaign contributions. Who will pay for all of this? You guessed it the same people who already paid more for the same item through taxes, will now pay for the cost of collecting and inspecting the collecting of those taxes; the consumer. While it might not be germane to our hobby, sales tax is unfair to the poor who live closer to pay to pay check than the rich. The poor pay a much higher percentage of their income on sales taxes for day to day survival, than the rich who spend much less of a percentage of their income on day to day survival, and can afford to spend much of their extra income on less taxed investments. The gap only widens.
Please forgive me while I mount my soapbox for a moment; I suggest a flat rate income tax for all (and I do mean all), a repeal of sales tax, a sin/usage tax on non essential items, or items that require usage considerations. But, the cost of such sin/usage tax should only be for the actual cost incurred to society by the actual use of such products or services, and not to fund anything else. If the gains in income to those business that exist in communities that depend on tourism fail to cover the expenses of those communities previously depending on sales tax, perhaps an entry and/or exit fee for foreigners who would not be subject to this income tax could be instituted to help subsidize the lost revenue.
