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.