Tucson Kent's World

This morning I read that Philadelphia is charging bloggers a business privelege fee just like anyone else doing business in the city - which is $300 + taxes on the income.  My first thought was along the lines of, "Where will the taxation STOP?"

After a bit, I started wondering if we bloggers have enjoyed a business privelege without paying the price that other businesses pay as a normal course of responsibility.  Many people get a decent amount of income from their blogs - affiliate marketing can produce a good income stream for some, others like myself generate income indirectly as a result of the traffic generated by their blogs (about 70% of my clients find my real estate practice via my blog).

Should I be any different from the restaurants, architects, attorneys & auto repair shops in my community?  Probably not. I don't want to pay more fees and taxes, but as a business owner and good citizen, I should not be treated any differently than other businesses.  It isn't fair.

Several questions come to mind concerning the business license aspect of it though:

• Will a business with an existing license have to pay another fee for their blog? (Double taxation?)
  
• How will local governments enforce such a measure? (Most of the time my blog is written & published in the county, not the city)
• Will multiple, interrelated social media platforms be taxed? (Facebook, Twitter, etc)
• What about the legal aspects of a blog that is hosted in another state?  Will that dictate the actual residence of the blog itself? (visualizing all sorts of hosting operations popping up in low-tax states)
• Do cash-strapped governments actually have the staffing or technical experts to truly exercise measures like this?

All in all, it comes down to this:  The Philadelphia Experiment is an indicator of the future.  Blogging for fun & profit will soon face more governmental fees.  We all know that the marketplace has changed to cyberspace...and we're going to have to pay for it as cities & other governmental structures catch up.

It has been a nice ride, for free, for a while.  Gotta pay the piper someday.

Ryan Shaughnessy, of PREA Signature Realty in St. Louis, Missouri, and I are launching a new show on BlogTalk Radio:  Real Estate Roundtable!

For the first show, we are proud to have Jason Crouch join us to discuss Social Media: Are Consumer Wants & Needs Being Met This Way?  The show begins at 9 AM Central Time (10 AM Eastern, 8 AM Mountain).  I'll be broadcasting live from Sedona, Arizona this week - beautiful scenery...and host of the Social Media Mastermind Conference this weekend.

Hopefully, we will have one or more of the presenters at this conference join us for the discussion too.

Please join us and feel free to chime in on the discussion and express your thoughts - that's what Talk Radio...and social media is all about!

Future shows will center on real estate & the industry at large - tell us what you'd like to have a discussion about.  After all, it is a RoundTable, isn't it?

Go To Show Site          Listener Call In Phone Number:  (347) 677-1559