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Comment by sailfast | Hacker News Reader

Why not just tax all computers sales for $20? It would be much more cost effective than developing a really terrible piece of easily hackable filtering software that would have to be deployed on every OS in the world to comply with the law, not to mention the costly workflow of collecting the tax. (Ignoring the obviously strange "pay for speech" game happening here that is just ODD)

This seems like a really complicated, silly approach to solve a very simple problem - funding the Attorney General's Task Force.

Kickstarter would be a more effective governance strategy here. Hopefully lawmakers AND the citizens of South Carolina can see how terrible this would be for their state. I have no doubt North Carolina PC stores are excited, though.

In general, I'm upset to see these micro-targeted pieces of legislation that also contribute a great deal to erosion of constitutional protections without an afterthought.

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This law will actually cost the Attorney General's office as they spend money to defend a law which will inevitably be found unconstitutional.

This law is good PR, or it's a decoy.

I know in California, the AG office can apparently elect not to defend a law (they did it with the Prop 8 gay marriage ban). Is that something unique to California, or can other states do it?

Hey man, it's all for the protection of kids and to prevent human trafficking! I mean, it's in the name: Human Trafficking Prevention Act. It doesn't matter that we're stepping on the toes of other citizens and their right to browse the Internet freely. It's for the sake of protecting the helpless and, most of all, the children!

Note: For the sake of Poe's Law, this post is scathing sarcasm.

> Why not just tax all computers sales for $20?

Because SC didn't invent computers, the internet, or anything related to this. This isn't their territory, and they should quickly and apologetically "back off".

When in doubt, follow the money. $20 per device to a "task force" that you may or may not believe in is theft, a shakedown, or whatever variant someone may refer to it as.

The effect: "You want a computer? Pay for it, and give me $20: you have no choice."

Interestingly, the difference in SC sales tax (6%) and NC sales tax (4.75%, but county/city taxes make it ~6.75%), effectively come out to nearly $20 on a $2000 laptop.

>I have no doubt North Carolina PC stores are excited, though.

Can you clarify what this means?

I suspect that the author is suggesting that consumers who don't wish to be subject to the filter or the tax would just drive over the border to North Carolina to purchase a computer.

The implication is that people will travel to North Carolina from South Carolina to buy their computers instead of having to buy the "filtered" ones in their home state.

Yes, this sums it up. State-based taxes and fees on goods are pretty easily circumventable when you buy in another state, or, you know, on a website.

To be fair, they might also go to Georgia.

But this also conveniently ignores the fact that the same brand of blue-fearing SC republican also dominates the NC state legislature [0]. I can imagine NC easily passing a similar law in an after hours closed door special session. So the more rational GA, TN, and VA states should be excited.

[0] See all behavior since McCrory was ousted from being Governor and the State Supreme Court flipping pro-Dem.

South Carolina is a weird place. I always thought that it was like a southern version of Pennsylvania or New Hampshire -- the regional "vice" state. They have fireworks, strippers, cheaper gas etc.

A vice state? This Pennsylvania?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_Pennsylvania

We actually have software companies here, so no that's actually not as likely. It's the exact reason this happened in south carolina and not say georgia.

North Carolina borders South Carolina, where the proposed ban is. GP is pointing out that South Carolinians will be incentivized to buy computers out of state, driving up sales there.

Probably that if it passes, people will buy computers across state lines and transport them back. A bounty for NC electronics stores.

$20 is not enough to get people to go to another state on a $500 purchase. Sales tax is more than that, and there aren't a lot of people buying stuff in other states to avoid that.

Probably not for a lot of the state, but the Charlotte metro area contains a significant number of people who live across the border in Rock Hill for property tax reasons. These people make that commute almost daily. (It's actually enough that the Charlotte Transit Authority has a bus that runs to Rock Hill).

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