Resellers, agorism, and economic consequences

[RonnieP]

Do resellers (selling in bitcoin, silver, or otherwise) actually make a difference in the grand scheme of things? I can see a minor sales tax avoidance if they buy over state lines and then resell, but does it really have an impact to the economy? If person x buys an item across state lines and resells it to person y over the internet, is there a significant damage ping to the economy at all? After all, conceivably, person Y could have simply purchased the same item over the internet directly, possibly with free shipping and still avoiding sales tax. I hope I am describing my question correctly. If the difference (even in large quantities of transactions) is not significant, then I would hope ultimately people would strive to create their own products to sell, or refurbish and sell used items like appliances or similar. Any thoughts?

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[goatpig]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you are saying evading taxes hurts the economy?

[tomcollins]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you are saying evading taxes hurts the economy?

I think he's saying that using inefficient means to avoid sales tax hurts the economy.  And it could be true that avoiding sales tax hurts the economy (if I waste a lot of time and resources to drive to the next state to buy something to save $.50 in sales tax, I actually cause damages to myself).

[malditonuke]

Do resellers (selling in bitcoin, silver, or otherwise) actually make a difference in the grand scheme of things? I can see a minor sales tax avoidance if they buy over state lines and then resell, but does it really have an impact to the economy? If person x buys an item across state lines and resells it to person y over the internet, is there a significant damage ping to the economy at all? After all, conceivably, person Y could have simply purchased the same item over the internet directly, possibly with free shipping and still avoiding sales tax. I hope I am describing my question correctly. If the difference (even in large quantities of transactions) is not significant, then I would hope ultimately people would strive to create their own products to sell, or refurbish and sell used items like appliances or similar. Any thoughts?

An apple bought with bitcoin is different from an apple bought with USD.  The value of a product depends on how it affects you psychologically, which is why value is subjective.

[goatpig]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you are saying evading taxes hurts the economy?

I think he's saying that using inefficient means to avoid sales tax hurts the economy.  And it could be true that avoiding sales tax hurts the economy (if I waste a lot of time and resources to drive to the next state to buy something to save $.50 in sales tax, I actually cause damages to myself).

I see.

[RonnieP]

Actually I was asking if others believe resellers are a very inefficient form of agorism. I don't think it hurts the system to resell because the sales tax would most likely be avoided anyway. Creating an item cuts out both the payroll taxes and the sales tax.

And I suppose I worded it poorly, as the economy isn't just the white market economy, which is what I was referring to.

[goatpig]

Actually I was asking if others believe resellers are a very inefficient form of agorism.

They are not inefficient in the case of hard to get goods. Think about the benefit face to face resellers of Bitcoins bring to this market.

[Ryan]

Reselling to avoid sales tax and reselling goods in general are entirely different things.

Positives:
a) Reselling increases availability of a given good, trading ease of access for dollars.
b) In general, avoiding sales tax reduces deadweight loss for a particular good or small market.

Negatives
a) Avoiding sales tax is generally illegal (just difficult to prosecute).
b) In theory avoiding tax shifts taxes to more taxable goods or (in practice) to people without access to resellers (for a number of reasons, including morality)
c) Resellers add opportunities for counterfeit goods, increasing the risk premium

[bearbones]

I don't know how it works in other countries, but most online stores selling across state lines in the U.S. don't pay sales tax.  They only pay sales tax for in-state transactions.  The transaction medium is hardly even relevant.  I, for one, will gladly pay the 2.9% CO sales tax if bitmunchies gets any local customers.

[RonnieP]

Actually I was asking if others believe resellers are a very inefficient form of agorism.

They are not inefficient in the case of hard to get goods. Think about the benefit face to face resellers of Bitcoins bring to this market.

I suppose it all depends on personal priorities I guess. I might also be forgetting that not everyone is willing to spend 5 hours on the internet to find what they are looking for at the price they want.