[Boatanchors] General Comments On Hamfests (Re: Timinium Hamfest)

[W4AWM at aol.com]

Several years ago, these "state tax agents" started showing up at various  
MD hamfests. There were the most  personally unkempt  representatives for a 
government agency I have ever laid eyes on. They  threatened to call the 
police on anyone who did not cooperate with them. Rather  than argue, many 
sellers simply shut down and left. I have not seen them  recently, not to say 
they were not there.
 
Only a very few flea market sellers at hamfests are there to make a living  
and most are very easy to spot. The remainder are selling personal property 
on  which taxes have been paid somewhere along the line and should not have 
to be  paid a second or subsequent times.
 
Unfortunately, due to the economy, governments have had to resort to make  
money any way they can. The Mayor of the District of Columbia last week 
admitted  that increasing use of traffic cameras was to richen the city's 
coffers  first and enforce laws second. More cameras are being bought with that 
end  in mind. I will not even go across the river into DC any more unless it 
is an  absolute emergency, and that hasn't happened in the lat 3 years,  
thankfully.
 
73,
 
John,  W4AWM