It’s “Black Monday,” that magical time of year when folks return to work after Thanksgiving. But instead of making sure that put cover sheets on their TPS reports, they are using the office’s high-speed connection to do their Christmas shopping online.  For consumers, it’s a boon — no hunting for parking spaces, no check-out lines, no fist-fights over discounted Wiis.  And for online retailers like Amazon, it’s a non-stop treasure bath.

But for local politicians, “Black Monday” is something to be despised. They dislike the idea that in a cubicle somewhere, someone is buying merchandise without paying any sales tax…and thus providing the politicians with the revenue to pay for roads, schools, health care, police and fire protection.  And, for Virginia residents, whatever is left is used for incidentals like giving millions given to Rolls Royce, Micron, Microsoft, and Northrop Grumman.