Originally Posted by teddybear99

After reading all these off topic posts that talk about taxation of points/miles, I have a question.

Please point out if I am wrong, but taxation occurs in more than one form, not just revenue based like the IRS. There are state and local sales tax on purchases; govt. taxes issued for things like airline tickets, gas purchases, import fees, etc.; bed taxes for hotel rooms?

Don't we all pay taxes on the flights purchased with these miles? I don't fly much, but I have used awarded miles to fly to Asia in the past. Even though the tickets cost me only miles, I had to pay all the govt. fees and taxes associated with these tickets at the time of purchase. I believe the same with the "free" rooms earned through Hotel Programs.

So to the people who consider these miles/points as income, I say we still pay our fair share of taxes, just to another "bucket." We shouldn't be taxed twice as some govt. people think we should.

Now can we get back on topic about the ethical question posed by the OP?