[Discuss] Effort to repeal Mass Tax on Software Services

[jack at coats.org (Jack Coats)]

I don't live in MA, but you folks I do consider friends from visiting
back in the Y2K era, so I am interested.  And my son lives there now
(he stayed after graduating and is in business).

The taxes in MA have historically been higher than much of the rest of
the country.  I am not arguing whether this is good or bad, but it is
part of what has made MA.  But after my time there I also see that in
general more is expected of govt and it must be paid for somehow.
Overall, MA has come to a fair balance for the realities there.

Is this a 'good' tax or 'bad' tax, is really the debate.

I dislike it due to the limitations on independent contractors to
build and use tools, and take the tools they build with them.  If all
you do is to run programs others develop, this is not an issue, but if
you right code (even glue code, like the short bat or sh file used to
just make stuff run) it now belongs to the client.  This I see as the
major negative to this tax bill.  Historically if you wrote code,
depending on how your contract is written, it was 'free for use' by
the client and the programmer could ALSO 'take it with them' as they
left.  This new tax blocks this ability.  It also generates 'new
taxes' for any 'software purchases' that were not there before (other
than sales taxes?).

Politicians EVERYWHERE are looking for 'new revenue streams'.  This
one seems 'new' to them.  I wish there was a way to get the 'software
property rights' removed from 'tax code'.

Being an 'outsider', much of the nation does see MA as a leader in
many areas.  This particular saw and revenue stream I would like to
see NOT spread.

In the short term it may drive software contractors out of MA, in the
long run I don't want it to be yet another poison pill for the MA
business environment.