Rantz: Dow Constantine wants to tax app downloads

Days ago, we pretended King County Dow Constantine wanted to fix unfair taxes in Washington state. Sorry if I was skeptical, since, you know, Constantine routinely tries to implement unfair taxes that disproportionately target the poor. Now, he wants to tax your app downloads because, well, why not nickel and dime us?

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Q13 reports that in Monday’s keynote address to the Sound Cities Association, Constantine floated around the idea of letting individual jurisdictions collect a tax on smartphone downloads, like mp3 albums or .99 apps. Q13 reports:

The proposal is based off the idea that cities and counties aren’t getting the tax revenue they used to since brick-and-mortar software stores are disappearing.

“You used to go to Egghead Software to buy your copy of Word Perfect,” Constantine said. “And you paid sales tax on it. That, in large part, doesn’t happen anymore.”

Uhm yeah, let’s fire up my trust Compaq Presario and load my Word Perfect!

Sure, we may not drive down to Egghead Software so that Constantine can grab a few extra pennies to misspend for us, but think about what we’re not doing: driving, clogging up the roads, polluting the environment on the way, buying a box and manual, wrapped in plastic, that we end up tossing in the trash. Albums? We’re foregoing all the plastic and downloading directly onto our phones.

Dow Constantine wants to fix unfair Washington taxes

We’re more eco-conscious consumers by buying apps or software online. We’re doing what Constantine wants: wasting less resources. Beyond that, we’re spending less time using county resources as a means to purchase those products. How about you be content with the tax dollars you currently take from us and let us download an app — that has no meaningful impact on the County — in peace?

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