Today Patreon announced that it would have to charge
sales tax on some donors in some states starting July 1, 2020, link.
Generally, there may be tax if a supporter gets
additional viewing or bonus privileges for contributions. This essentially
makes the content more like that of a “paywall”, where sales tax is charged if
you live in some states or countries or provinces.
The concept may be important for another reason. For
some speakers, it may be more desirable legally if the readers actually pay for
the content (even if bonus) than make gifts to support the creator. That might
be true if the speaker also manages a non-blind trust, for example (and shouldn’t
be asking for donations anyway). It also implies that the site is a “legitimate”
or “commercially viable” business if consumers actually pay for the content,
making it pay its own way. This could
become an important concept with more regulations on Internet speech in the
future.
I still like the idea of bundled or consolidated
paywalls.
Picture: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg VA (2010)
No comments:
Post a Comment