Upset by a morning Washington Post story which noted that Donald Trump was “confused” and “did not have a grasp of some basic elements of the Senate plan,” Trump struck back in the only way he knows … by threat.
The problem with that threat? If Trump is talking about sales taxes, Amazon already pays them in every state …
[As of March] Amazon will start collecting sales taxes on purchases in the last four states where it wasn't doing so: Hawaii, Idaho, Maine and New Mexico. Four other states -- Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon -- have no sales tax, while a fifth, Alaska, doesn't have a statewide tax, but it does have municipal sales taxes.
But then, Trump says “internet tax.” So perhaps what he’s proposing here is a new tax, an extra tax that only internet-based companies would have to pay. The idea that Trump would tax a large and growing segment of the economy just to deliver a swipe at someone who crossed him is totally, absolutely, instantly believable. And Republican conservatives will be thrilled to hear that Trump is using his official presidential statements to propose new taxes. Is this how Republicans plan to pay for that big tax break to billionaires—by imposing a new tax on everyone else?
So … which is it? Did Trump reply to a story about how he was “confused” with a tweet that proves he’s even more confused? Or did he propose a new tax? It has to be one or the other.