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I do see this as the core of the Internet tax controversy , because a lot of money will sooner or later be at stake through such channels , and because there exist bricks-and-mortar merchants who sell identical products and for whom differential tax treatment seems , over the long run , unfair . We know that merchants and businessmen , large and small , have tried to get together to raise prices , as long as there have been merchants and businesses . If there are two merchants , one in London and the other in Edinburgh , who employ equal stocks in the same branch of trade , the Edinburgh merchant can , without imprudence , carry on a greater trade and give employment to a greater number of people than the London merchant . If there are any merchants among them , they are properly only the agents of wealthier merchants who reside in some of the greater commercial cities . This article has been written because there are many merchants burdened by debts who do not wish to return to their native country , because of the poor reception they would receive there , and because of the fear that upon return their vessel would be sold at auction ; thus by this means they would retain the services of the crew without end .