It’s rare these days that taxpayers get any relief from the clutches of governments, led by politicians who love to spend, spend, spend. In Wisconsin, the taxpayers got a small victory. The state supreme court ruled that the state was improperly collecting sales taxes on customized computer software. The government will have to refund $265 million to taxpaying businesses!!!

I can just hear the liberals… their wailing and gnashing of teeth…. as they believe that taxes should be taken from people and businesses by any means possible. Well, there are laws about how taxes are to be collected and on what sales taxes must be paid. And the Wisconsin Department of Revenue is being forced to follow those laws.

Here’s how this came about: Menasha Corporation was charged sales tax on software it purchased, with WIDOR claiming that it was prewritten software and therefore subject to 5% sales tax. The supreme court ruled that the software was in fact customized software, which is not subject to sales tax.

Not only will Menasha get their money back, other companies could (and should!) file claims with the state to recover sales tax they paid on customized software. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that this will “cost” the state $265 million.

WRONG! It’s not “costing” the state anything. It’s giving back to taxpayers money that the state illegally took from them. When a auto thief is forced to return a stolen car, we don’t say that it “cost” him a car. We say that he had to give back what belonged to the original owner. Our view of taxes should be no different. If our government steals from taxpayers, they should return the money and no one should feel bad.