CompuServe Messages

People say, "Oh, don't raise taxes on companies because they'll just pass it along to us." Reducing that to its logical conclusion, companies should pay no taxes, because then products will be as cheap as possible. It wouldn't be equitable, and it almost certainly wouldn't even turn out that way, but even if it did, the consumer market that the government is going to turn to to make up those lost revenues then would be able to buy less. It's a zero-sum game. Also, those same people who think higher corporate taxes are always and fully passed on to consumers also tend to believe in marketplace competition. Well, either companies paying more taxes are going to raise their prices or they won't. If they find a loophole, then we can eliminate the loophole, just like there are ways to minimize piracy. But as a matter of principle, saying we shouldn't do it because people won't like it isn't much of a policy, espeically if it's the right thing to do. Back to software: You're right on one score. If Scala loses sales to competing packages, it'll probably drop the dongle. But if there IS no comparable package, why shouldn't Scala keep the dongle? If they're selling the software and making enough money to suit them, it is a rational decision on their part, isn't it? — Ron Legro, Milwaukee via AUTOPILOT (the only way to fly)