chaverim: Paterson doesn’t get an extra cent, I’m in exile from NY.
And I don’t get the cholent joke (maybe I’m just too tired, it’s past 7:30 pm already). I’ll read it again in the morning.
moti: I am not getting “carried away in my righteousness”. I simply do not accept as a fact that 99.9% of people do not pay use tax. I don’t mean to say that everyone keeps an accurate record, but I expect that most people use some approximations and estimates to arrive at a reasonable value for that tax. I also have to estimate some pieces, as I don’t know how to include everything in the calculation (such as gasoline). What you choose to believe is your own problem, and what you choose to do is your own problem. I am serious.
If the government feels the same way as you do, i.e. that 99.9% of taxpayers are ignoring use tax, then indeed they will think it is a new source of revenue. Whether or not they are correct is another story. But if they really believe that 99.9% of people are cheating on their taxes, don’t you think that they should crack down on that (an existing tax) before they start doing new stuff? Or get rid of it if it is such a stupid tax and then do a new one.