Good luck with forcing this on FOSS.
this post was submitted on 18 May 2026
117 points (97.6% liked)
Technology
84769 readers
3607 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Gavin is a fuckin chode.
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?
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 guy is a POS.
"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.
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.
Do wealth tax instead!!!
Inequality is the cause of poor living standards. We need higher taxes on inheritance, wealth. And weaker taxes on workers.
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.
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.
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.
Also I fucking doubt Newsome been anywhere near a Best Buy much less bought software from there.
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.
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
Yes, I also read the article.
You all are buying software? I just donate to my friendly neighborhood FOSS Developer.
How else would I get this year's version of Macaffe Antivirus!
You could always try clicking on some shady links online.
load more comments
(8 replies)
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
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.
That actually makes sense, thank you
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?
Well, now we've got Trump on the right imposing new regressive taxes:
https://www.hbs.edu/bigs/robert-lawrence-qa-trade-tariffs
And since tariffs are only levied on goods, and since it's poorer Americans who spend a greater share of their consumption on goods than rich Americans, this is a highly regressive tax.
And Newsom on the left:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_tax
Because the rate of a sales tax does not change based on a person's income or wealth, sales taxes are generally considered regressive...Investopedia defines a regressive tax as "[a] tax that takes a larger percentage from low-income people than from high-income people. A regressive tax is generally a tax that is applied uniformly. This means that it hits lower-income individuals harder".
EDIT: As of 2025, California has the eighth-highest average combined state-local sales tax rate in the US, at 8.802%:
https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/sales-tax-rates-2025/
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.
Greasy Gavin needs to tax his billionaire golf buddies.
Motherfucker.
The only POC that Gavin cares about are People of Capital
California, continuing to find any other regressive tax they can implement rather than just forcing rich and old people to pay more property taxes on their homes that are locked in at rates from the 1970s-1990s.
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.
Thank god the analog software is still safe