Apple Thoughts: New York to Tax Digital Downloads

"Gov. Paterson's proposed $121 billion budget hits New Yorkers in their iPods - and nickels-and-dimes them in lots of other places, too. Trying to close a $15.4 billion budget gap, Paterson called for 88 new fees and a host of other taxes, including an "iPod tax" that taxes the sale of downloaded music and other "digitally delivered entertainment services." "We're going to have to take some extreme measures," Paterson said Tuesday after unveiling the slash-and-burn budget."

I don't know if I care that much about this. My initial reaction to this was "Don't they already tax those?" I had to look at some old iTunes receipts to see if they did (they most certainly don't). I'm not happy paying more, but if I went and bought the CD I'd have to pay sales tax on that just the same. Of course, with a CD you own the music, so paying the sales tax on something you own is one thing; your right to own a CD is a little more set in stone than your right to "own" a digital download. I know I'm probably opening up a can of worms, but what do you all think? I'm guessing most of you are going to be very much against this. Am I wrong?