The sales tax law doesn't actually cost society more, it just costs cell phone purchasers more. And the government (the people) gets the revenue, so it is a wash, apart from the cost of collecting the tax. You could cancel the tax, but you would have to make it up somewhere else, unless we advocated increased debt for California. It is just a transfer, not a cost, IMO.

How about we tax any cell phone that is used or capable of being used in a vehicle? Now that could save lives! We could even determine the tax rate by calculating the number of deaths attributed to lack of driver attention, multiply it by the DoT figure for the value of each life, and divide it by the number of cell phones used.

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2007 X3 3.0si, 6 MT, Premium, White

Retired:
2008 535i, 6 MT, M Sport, Premium, Space Grey
2003 X5 3.0 Steptronic, Premium, Titanium Silver
2002 325xi 5 MT, Steel Grey
2004 Z4 3.0 Premium, Sport, SMG, Maldives Blue