** On Nov 13, Craig Sanders scribbled: > On Mon, Nov 13, 2000 at 04:45:51PM -0000, dune@home.pl wrote: > > >err. debian CDs have a known market value, don't they? why not buy a > > >debian CD for $2 or whatever they cost these days? > > > > > >add in the 30% tax and that's a total of $2.60 + postage. > > > > > >remember to keep the purchase receipt :) > > > > Remember to keep a purchase receipt for what? License or CD copy? > > for tax purposes, is there any relevant difference? > > you will have a receipt for a software CD called Debian GNU/Linux. > that's what it cost you to buy it, including the cost of materials and > the cost of the license. I'm wondering whether it could be proved that one had some substantial expenses even downloading the software - after all, the time spent downloading it is directly measurable using a simple calclulation of time vs. e.g. leased line cost :)). That way you could prove you spent some real money on downloading, say, 2Gigs of Debian :) > importantly, it also establishes that MS software is not an appropriate > reference for price. MS Windows etc cost hundreds of dollars. A Debian > CD costs $2. Craig, we're talking tax collectors here... they're really dumb in that matter. They ask their specialists "hey, Frankie, what's the most popular software on the PC server market?", and Frankie says "Why, it's M$ Windows NT!". Then the taxie just takes NT pricelist and uses that as a reference. And they don't give a damn about GPL and stuff. Besides, in mentality of many people and particularily those involved in finance, there's NO such thing as free software - it simply doesn't fit their view of the world. [snip] > btw, another possible line of argument is that free software is not > a personal gift, it is a gift to the public of the world - anyone, > anywhere is licensed to use it at no cost. it's like a public park, not > like an individual present. yes, but you don't have profits out of a public park. If you own a hot-dog stand and you sell the hot-dogs in that public park, you have to pay the taxes for what you earned. They assumed that the free software is something you have a direct gain from - ergo, "you must pay the tax!". As somebody else wrote before - the donation (as in "anything given for free") is a direct increase of the value of your possesions - you became more rich, then you must pay for it. If you bought the software, then the tax would have been paid already - VAT included in the retail price. All in all, it's an utterly stupid matter, but one that happens in reality, unfortunately... marek
Attachment:
pgpzeSDtGlX25.pgp
Description: PGP signature