There’s something almost charming about watching politicians fumble with technology they don’t understand while simultaneously trying to tax it. Almost. If it weren’t so infuriating and symptomatic of everything wrong with our bloated state governments, it might actually be funny.
Illinois Democrats just passed a tax on social media as part of their nearly $56 billion spending plan. Governor J.B. Pritzker, that rotund champion of fiscal irresponsibility, expects to squeeze $200 million out of tech companies. There’s just one tiny problem. Nobody in Springfield can actually explain what they’re taxing.
The language in the bill is a masterclass in legislative confusion. It imposes fees based on “the average number of monthly users of the platform located in the State of Illinois.” Sounds simple enough, right? Except it’s not. Are we talking about users or accounts? Some people maintain multiple accounts on the same platform. My teenager has three Instagram accounts alone. Does that count as three users? The bill doesn’t say because the people who wrote it don’t know.
Here’s how the tax structure breaks down, and brace yourself because this gets messy fast. Platforms with 100,000 to 500,000 Illinois users pay ten cents per user monthly. Those with 500,000 to a million users fork over $40,000 plus 25 cents per user each month. And platforms exceeding one million users? They’re on the hook for $165,000 plus 50 cents monthly for every user over that million mark. Oh, and there’s an inflation adjustment provision because naturally these folks are planning for this disaster to stick around.
The whole scheme originated in Pritzker’s office, which tells you everything you need to know. This is the same governor who’s already eyeing a presidential run, presumably on a platform of taxing things he doesn’t comprehend. You can practically see him licking his chops at the thought of all that tech company money flowing into state coffers to pay for whatever new spending programs Springfield dreams up next.
What’s particularly galling is that Chicago already tried this nonsense. Their version of a social media tax is currently tied up in court, which apparently didn’t give anyone in the state legislature pause. Why learn from mistakes when you can just repeat them at a larger scale?
The fundamental issue here goes beyond mere technical ignorance. It reveals a deeper problem with how progressives view the private sector. To them, successful companies are just piggy banks waiting to be smashed open. The fact that these platforms provide services people actually want and use doesn’t matter. The fact that taxing them might drive business out of Illinois doesn’t register. All they see is money they don’t currently control.
And let’s talk about enforcement for a second. How exactly does Illinois plan to verify user counts? Are they going to trust the companies to self-report? Will they demand access to internal analytics? What happens when a platform disputes the state’s count? The bill offers no answers because nobody thought that far ahead.
This is what happens when politicians prioritize revenue generation over sensible policy. They craft legislation that sounds good in a press release but collapses under the slightest scrutiny. It’s governance by wishful thinking, budgeting by fantasy.
The tech companies will lawyer up. They’ll challenge this in court, probably successfully. Meanwhile, Illinois taxpayers will foot the bill for defending indefensible legislation. The whole circus will drag on for years, costing far more in legal fees than it ever generates in revenue.
But here’s what really bothers me. While Springfield wastes time on half-baked tax schemes, real problems go unsolved. Illinois has a pension crisis that would make your head spin. The state’s population has been shrinking for years as people flee to states with saner governance. Businesses are leaving. The tax base is eroding. And what’s the Democratic response? Tax social media. Brilliant.
This is what limited government conservatives have been warning about forever. Give politicians the power to tax, and they’ll find increasingly creative and idiotic ways to exercise it. Today it’s social media. Tomorrow it might actually be the air we breathe, and honestly, I’m not even joking anymore.
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