As someone who lives near a Best Buy, I’m at Best Buy often," Newsom told reporters during a news conference. “And I’m paying sales tax on a lot of this prewritten software. And then I find out that all my friends that aren’t near a Best Buy, they’re downloading and they are not paying sales tax. How is that fair?”
Are you actually older than Bernie Sanders. Who the actual fuck buys software in a box in a store? I was born in 1980 and I’ve never done this.
Also, what human being has ever said “prewritten software” to describe a video game or an office suite you can buy at Best Buy?
What, you don’t write your games yourself?
I’m a couple years younger than you, and well as a kid we did buy software from babbages or electronic boutique. I think the last time I bought software for a store was around 2010 at a micro center or something. But that was already a rare occurrence at that point. So as of today it’s probably been 16 years since I’ve done so. I think most of the stores that actually sold software are out of business. So your point is valid.
Games are software. People buy a FUCK load of games. If I go to best buy and buy a game I pay sales tax. If I buy the same game online I do not pay sales tax.
I’m in California. This is one of the reasons I don’t buy games in stores.
Tax the rich you coward!!
Seriously though, is he trying to fire a salvo in some BS culture war battle? Maybe he thinks taxing software will effectively tax ai?
This is mostly a tax in video games. Basically it’s an attack on steam.
I’m in California. If I but a game(software) I pay tax if I do it at Best buy. If I buy it on steam I pay no sales tax.
I wouldn’t be surprised if 99% of all software bought in stores is just video games.
Steam already charges a state sales tax, so this isn’t at Steam. There are a lot of other smaller online stores that don’t bother with state taxes though.
That’s only partly correct. Steam only charges a state sales tax for states that require sales tax on its purchases. CA does not impose state sales tax on digital products, so Steam does not charge CA residents a sales tax on purchases. This is aiming to level the playing field for brick and mortar stores as well as make more money (from normal people instead of taxing billionaires).
That’s interesting, I’ve seen it in multiple states and just assumed it was the standard at this point. Is CA late to the game on this because so many of the online companies lobbied against it hard in their home state?
Yeah, taxing the average consumer more but refusing to tax billionaires is regressive and dumb as hell. Newsom is a sellout
The exemption on silicon valley’s sales tax is a defacto subsidy of billionaires.
He works for billionaires. This is just a virtue signal to make it look like he could be taxing AI when really it’s a regressive tax that would hurt poor people the most and further save his voter base: billionaires.
So he will never push a genuine wealth tax, but he will push red herrings.
Gavin is a fuckin chode.
I’ve never heard the term “pre-written software” in my life and I’ve been a nerd for many decades.
lawyers sure are something else with their stupid-ass terms.
This is the candidate libs are going to be screaming at you to vote for in 2028. Don’t let him make it past the primary.
There is no way in hell I would vote for Newsom. I will vote literally anyone else (not that my vote matters much since I am in Cali).
I’ll go with Capt. Mark Kelly if he slips in.
the centrist zionist who votes to support “business” over his constituents needs any way he can? I guess if you loved Biden he’s pretty much the same thing. Good luck with that I guess. If all you are voting for is that he’s ex nasa, he’s your obvious choice. But he’s pretty much the same as Newsom then, how do you differentiate them? One is bald and the other not?
Lots of California residents who believed lock downs during COVID were necessary also seem to not care that he, among other politicians gathered at fancy restaurants at the same time
Newsom’s popularity was in the shitter for a reason before he started memeing on Trump.
I’m hoping that he won’t be the candidate. He might be better than a Republican, but that’s the only positive thing I can think of. There are so many better Democratic prospects.
Yep guy future right then Regan and Democrats are going tell us how he is the answer. This fuckwit is drolling to get to do half the shit Trump is getting away with.
Same play as Mark Carney in Canada. A rebranded Conservative spouting liberal bullshit.
“As someone who lives near a Best Buy, I’m at Best Buy often,” Newsom told reporters during a news conference. “And I’m paying sales tax on a lot of this prewritten software. And then I find out that all my friends that aren’t near a Best Buy, they’re downloading and they are not paying sales tax. How is that fair?”
I agree, its not fair, let’s just remove the sales tax, k? 👍
Also pretty sure no one is buying software from Best Buy in 2026, that would be dumb as hell.
Video games I bought at Best buy constantly. One of the largest sections at like my local Best buy for example.
Video games are software… This is functionally just a tax correction on video games.
Also I fucking doubt Newsome been anywhere near a Best Buy much less bought software from there.
If he plays video games, old people love Best buy. I work with a lot of old people and they almost exclusively only go to Best buy. These are people with net worth of tens and hundreds of millions of dollars and they love Best buy. They f****** adore it.
Every weird gadget, speaker, TV, electronic video game, anything rich people get it for them Best buy. Cuz to a lot of older people and a lot of the rich Best buy is seen as the upscale option. It’s convenient, it’s right there and the interiors of the stores are usually nice enough to not scare them off.
And old people do play video games. He could have gone to buy office too. Almost every older retired rich person. I know if they need to get office Photoshop or any other software they go to Best buy. Hell, some of the personal assistance for some of these people are sent explicitly to Best buy to go get boxed copies of software for their clientele.
Most of the time if someone needs a new macbook or laptop or phone they also go to Best buy for them.
If an old person needs something. Techy the only place they know to go that’s still operates in most places is Best buy.
So you would probably be really surprised. Just how likely it is an old rich white dude in California goes to Best buy.
this is just reclassifying ‘digital’ software as taxable. the same as software on physical media already is in california. some states have a similar tax status for these products.
many states already did the same with digital video and streaming.
i don’t really see a problem with it.
Sales tax is a regressive tax. Thats my problem with it. It taxes the poor more than the rich.
Regressive or not, it should be consistently applied. The Internet got these weird exemptions back in the 90s to encourage development of tech companies. Tech companies don’t need sweetheart deals anymore.
I didn’t even know CA had an exemption. Both states I’ve lived in always have the tax applied on software sales online.
I think their point may be more thay sales taxes are regressive- they disproportionately impact people with less money, as those people need to spend all or most of what they have for necessities, while folks with a large surplus of wealth or income only need to spend a small portion and much of it can go towards savings or investments
I dont think its unreasonable for someone to say they’d rather just do away with sales tax altogether. We may have more appropriate tools with which to fund the government
I would rather see the sales tax go away entirely. And switch to some different method that’s more efficient, effective and doesn’t punish lower earners in the poor and middle class in California as much. Cuz heaven knows California is brutal enough on most of us here.
But on But on the flip side if there is going to be a sales tax it shouldn’t have some stupid ass exemption just because it’s online. So either tax it all fair or get rid of it f****** entirely.
Having weird nonsense b******* reasons for this. That or the other thing did not have it just for some stupid ass reason is confusing and also unfair.
Cuz not having it on digital platforms while having it in stores is just hurting my local video game shop, my local game store, my local mom and pop computer repair store that happens to sell video games, office copies of Windows or what f****** have you. It now cost more money to buy it from them than to just go online and buy it. Which means my local shop is getting less sales because of the sales tax.
Make it fair or get rid of it And I really rather they just get f****** rid of it.
It’s definitionally progressive, not regressive. The more money you spend the more tax you pay. If you have more money, it’s highly likely you’re spending more, in absolute terms. Relatively, you might spend less percentage of income though. That’s why we should have other taxes, like wealth, property, and land value —the latter I think is one of the most important taxes we could add, particularly in high population areas.
You just described what regressive means. Sales tax is absolutely a regressive tax, since it impacts poor people more than rich people.
Regressive doesn’t mean you pay less as you get richer. Regressive means you pay a smaller portion of your income as you earn more (the opposite of a progressive tax like income). Higher income people spend less and less of a portion of their income on consumable products and services (and more on sheltered investments or property), so spend a smaller fraction of their income on sales tax. That is the definition of a regressive tax.
*even though it is a regressive tax, it still should be applied fairly or eliminated all together. No more exemptions for silicon valley.
Yes, I also read the article.
You all are buying software? I just donate to my friendly neighborhood FOSS Developer.
You paying tax on those donations? 🧐
How else would I get this year’s version of Macaffe Antivirus!
It’s more video games. How would you get your your Nintendo console? How would you go by your kid? The new super Mario Brothers how would you go buy your teenager? The new GTA? How would you go by yourself? A nice little present of a brand spanking new super Nintendo entertainment system with yoshi island from your local mom and pop game store.
Oh you would do it all online and not go to a store because if you went to a store and bought those same things you would get taxed on them.
Actually the fact that software hasn’t had a sales tax online has really only just hurt computer repair stores, mom and pop video, game stores and other local businesses
Big corpos are eating the loss of sales by just selling the same s*** on their own website. They’re not having any sort of f****** issue with it. So for them it doesn’t matter if the sales tax is applied fairly or not.
But for your mom and Pop store selling video games or other software it matters a great deal like a lot and it does make a difference.
Your first paragraph has way too many questions marks. I’m not asking you to buy a teenager.
You could always try clicking on some shady links online.
Let me know when your friendly neighborhood FOSS developer creates a CRM or accounting software that doesn’t cost me more in time to get running and figure out how to use than the paid options.
The majority of people cannot easily turn a few hours of their time on a whim into money because most of their working life is pre-scheduled. Others especially those most likely to be able to pick up a shift aren’t paid all that much. I find that ANY new software requires spending time learning in addition to any cost up front. Furthermore most of the paid software would require me to use a worse OS and pay for the privilege so its an awfully hard sell to bother.
As far as accounting software I who simply manage my wages haven’t ever needed anything more complicated than a spreadsheet. What software I’ve seen is kind of obnoxious and terrible so maybe this is an opportunity for someone.
Yes, thank you for elaborating on my point.
Yeah I didn’t say “when they exist”.
These are also not “free as in beer”.
Also your Big Capital has a .Claude file at the top of it and likewise Twenty has .cursor so LOLOLOL no thanks
I’m not saying these are plug and play, but they are quite literally free as in beer.
AI is definitely problematic. But if you think your paid for software doesn’t use AI in it in the present day, I have a bridge I’d like to sell you.
Weird. Most free things don’t have a “pricing” page, in my experience.
Yeah, our IT department will definitely replace our CRM and Accounting software with some random GitHub projects.
Thanks!
This seems nice https://civicrm.com/
Stop shifting the goal post
Your IT department likely just selects some random vendor that doesn’t really give a shit and puts all your data beyond some bullshit cloud service anyways. That they probably cobbled together from github anyways.
Did you not read? Those are established for-profit companies who also happen to release open-source versions of their stack. They also have hosted cloud versions.
You’re just backing away because you’ve been pointed out to be wrong in your sarcastic bullshit, buddy. Just walk away.
Why are you against a sales tax?
Sales taxes are regressive. The poorest people pay way more of their income to buy things at stores. Therefore they are getting taxed a lot more than someone who saves money because they have bigger incomes
That actually makes sense, thank you
It’s only regressive when framed as a tax on consumers - which is of course easier to do in a ridiculous country that allows retailers to advertise prices without all the retailer’s costs included.
A properly organised VAT type tax is not regressive - it’s a tax on corporations that buy product for cents and then sell them on for dollars, pocketing the difference. I’ve no idea why sales taxes bring out this “but won’t somebody think of the corporations!” handwringing.
I really enjoy your snarky tone, but can you explain how any consumption tax regardless of labeling are not regressive when poor people consume a lot more of their income than people with people with higher incomes? Sure you can mitigate this by only taxing x products or offering rebates to poor folk. But it just seems like it is inherent to the system.
It seems to me that progressive income taxes, direct taxes on profits of corporations, wealth taxes, and the like are much better targeted and don’t harm the poorest among us. But I’m from a “ridiculous country” so what do I know?
People who downvote someone asking a question is insane. Gods forbid you want to learn something or engage in a dialogue.
Same reasons I’m against most taxes.
How dare the government raise money to fund useless things, like infrastructure, education or social services, right?
How dare the government steal your money (the same money over and over) to fund genocide and line the pockets of the Trump-Epstein class, under threat of imprisonment.
That’s not a problem with taxes that’s a problem with management.
No tax is objectively fucking stupid and anyone against the concept of tax or collective public money pooling is fucking stupid.
I hate what they use my taxes for because that’s the problem. Oversight in management of public resources and funds is an issue.
But without those public resources, funds and us working together for the betterment of us, all is stupid. It doesn’t matter if the tax is in the form of money, labor group effort. What have you at the end of the day? Any form of collective resource pooling is a tax even if it’s as simple as your time.
There needs to be some form of tax. We need to fix the management in the overhead.
There is also a point to be made that we have too many different kinds of taxes and that the system could be streamlined and that taxation could be simplified. But gotten rid of is just objectively dumb. We need to work together.
Hell, I would even say there’s a good argument that monetary taxation could be replaced with a different form of collective effort. But at the end of the day it’s still just a tax no matter what you call it or how it’s done and it’s still necessary to have a functional society.
Even the both basic of hunter-gatherer groups in the most perfect idealized concept of a fully communistic society, for example, still has tax. It may be under a different name or in a different system, but at the end of the day it’s still giving your time up for the betterment of the group.
The only difference between donating eggs from your chicken to the local food bank so that everyone has access to eggs versus giving money in a sales tax so that the local government can ensure that food is provided to the poorest is management.
It all just comes down to the only real difference is management. Could management makes for good taxes? Pad management makes for bad taxes.
If you dislike what management is doing with your taxes, you should work to change the management, not f*** us all over because you don’t like the management.
By being against collective effort regardless of its form, is just you helping the rich. It makes you the prick the s*** face the a******.
Don’t give in to class warfare just because you don’t like where your money is going. Go do something about the people spending your money, spending your time, spending your resources on things you don’t agree with.
Go get involved with local politics and start working your way up to make the change you want to see. Just make sure you’re not f****** us all over as you go please.
That’s not a problem with taxes that’s a problem with management.
What tangible difference does that make? The two are inseparable.
No tax is objectively fucking stupid
I agree, and wasn’t suggesting such a thing. But when the govt taxes the same money 5 fucking different ways, and use it to perpetrate crimes against humanity, all while the ultra rich pay none of it, it gets real fucking aggravating, and I want to pay as little of it as humanly possible. The 1% could pay the other 99% taxes for them and experience no change in lifestyle at all.
“Not fair to those who buy physical software”
What was the most recent fucking calendar year when somebody walked into a CompUSA and bought physical boxed software??
I think I bought Half-Life 2 in box on launch day. So… 2004.
At my local Best buy video games account for almost 30% of their sales…
Not to mention GameStop for what it still exists as…
Functionally this is just tax on digital video game sales. I’m in California. If I buy a video game in any store in my state I pay tax on it if I buy that same game on any store online I do not pay tax in it.
To a degree she’s right, it’s the same product. It should have the same tax. Cuz all that you’re buying in the store is a f****** CD key to go download it 99% of the time.
Either digital platforms should be responsible for properly collecting sales tax on a good sold in California or boxed software that does not contain any actual physical media and is just a CD. Key should be exempt from sales tax.
Cuz if you aren’t actually selling me a physical good why the f*** am I paying you tax on it? Yes, I know a tax is just on any transaction. Anytime money changes hands regardless of context but still. The thought experiment stands.
Console video game players, I guess.
I bought Portal 2 in 2011. While it was a box, it was from Amazon, not brick and mortar. I don’t think I’ve ever bought software off a shelf.
Games definitely, but those would have been used.
You still paid sales tax when you bought a used game from GameStop. That’s the entire point. You but software in a store and you paid sales tax because a sale happens in California.
You buy the SAME thing online in the state of California and you pay no sales tax. A sale still happened, money exchanged hands. A general sales tax should not care about what the good is.
The entire point of a general sales tax is that it applies to any sale, regardless of context. That’s why there are exceptions that cut certain things out of the generality. Not a list that it only applies to.
So either software needs to actually collect sales tax correctly for transactions done in the state of California or software as a category needs to be exempt like online platforms.
It makes less sense to give an entire category such as software and exemption versus actually just enforcing sales tax equally and fairly in the state of California. These businesses are operating with license in the state in making sales by its laws. They should follow them.
Hell Even if you in California buy something from some place outside of California, including internationally while sales tax may not be collected at time of purchase, you are still typically on the hook for the sales tax. It’s just done on receipt instead of on purchase.
Online platforms have been basically skirting the law since their inception. At some point there needs to be a reckoning. Are all online purchases just exempt? Should things that are sold in stores that are only available for download like f****** CD keys, should those be exempt? At what point do the sales tax laws, regulations and things need to be updated to reconcile? The fact that for the last 20 years no one has been following the law because there is just no clear law around the circumstances. Instead it’s all just a hodgepodge of people, just kind of doing f****** whatever.
This guy is a POS.
Good luck with forcing this on FOSS.
Your post is reaching Trump-level stupidity. Do you know what the F in FOSS stands for?
How does this comment even make sense. If you get it free, no tax. If you donate, no tax. If you actually purchase a service, the same tax should apply as any other service.
I mean… They’re already basically collecting a 100% tax rate on “free”. They’re ahead of the curve here!
Greasy Gavin needs to tax his billionaire golf buddies.
Motherfucker.
The only POC that Gavin cares about are People of Capital
Do wealth tax instead!!!
Inequality is the cause of poor living standards. We need higher taxes on inheritance, wealth. And weaker taxes on workers.
He’s really trying to paint himself as something he isn’t by the Trump clowning. The reality is he’s the same thing with less narcissism and dementia. He isn’t the good guy he’s the marginally less bad guy.
I’ve been paying tax on games for years. Digital storefronts had to implement state sales tax after the big Wayfair suit in like 2018.
What software has been ignoring this?
California has an exemption on sales tax for digital delivery. Really he is saying he is going to remove the exemption.
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I don’t live in California. Not sure why you felt the need to repeat the other person, though. The information had already been shared.
As someone that buys software in BestBuy often, I’ve seen Gavin buy the same Turbotax CD-R rougly 13 times. Syke. Then he found out that all his friends don’t buy software in BestBuy.
Thank god the analog software is still safe
