Intellectual Property and Taxation

If intellectual property is actually property, why isn't it taxed?

"In a response to the LA Times editorial on copyright which we discussed a week ago, the paper published a response arguing: 'If Intellectual Property is actually property, why isn't it covered by a property tax?' If copyright maintenance involved paying a fee and registration, this would keep Mickey Mouse safely protected by copyright, while ensuring that works that are no longer economically relevant to the copyright holder pass into the public domain, where the residual social value can serve the real purpose of copyright: to enhance the progress of science and useful arts. Disclaimer: the author is my father."

The original article, from the LA Times is here.

(Thank you, Ben Morrow)


Interesting debate, I think. "THBT IP should be taxed the same as normal property"?