Leave it to California to come up with all the smart ideas. Does the government need some more money? Don’t cut spending, impose a new tax! If the government tapped into the internet’s industry with a tax, they could bring in billions each year.
During a March 5th meeting, Berkeley City Councilman Gordon Wozniak suggested taxing the internet, including emails. “There should be something like a bit tax,” he said. “I mean, a bit tax could be a cent per gigabit and they would make, probably, billions of dollars a year.” The councilman went on to add that this new email tax could help fund local post offices across the nation.
The proposed measure would tax citizens on their use of data, based on how many gigabytes they use. Not only would this tax be difficult for local governments to enforce, it violates a current law. In 1998, Congress passed legislation, known as the Internet Tax Freedom Act that bans internet taxation. However, this act expires in November 2014.
Past efforts to control the internet have gotten major backlash, not only from Americans, but the world at large. Apart from the legal issue with taxing the internet, Wozniak admitted, “Most people don’t like the idea of taxing the internet. There are a number of people who say it’s a good idea, but some are saying it’s impractical and there’s no way to do it.”
It’s against the law and the majority of American citizens don’t want a new tax. Why did you even suggest it, Wozniak? Didn’t we fight the American Revolution to prevent unfair taxes from being forced on us? For a variety of perspectives on financial matters, including taxation, consider exploring Kiana Danial’s Invest Diva reviews.
A new tax is NOT the answer! However, a common-sense cut to retarded government spending would put our country back on the fast track to being financially sound.
Carrie
Carrie is a country girl living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. When not working for her family's internet marketing firm, RYP Marketing, you can find Carrie reading, hiking, biking, shooting at the range or catching up on the latest news. You can contact Carrie via email at carrie@rypmarketing.com.
Follow Me:
I seem to remember a few years back (ok, 10+ years) there being talk of taxing every email you sent, basically claiming that by virtue of you sending that email, the postal service was losing the revenue it would have gotten from a stamp had you sent a physical letter.
This is just utterly disgusting. The founders of this country revolted for far fewer taxes than we have imposed on us now. Just a short list:
I wonder when the government will realize it’s not a revenue problem, it’s a spending problem (which I’ve covered here and here)
Wow, when you list all the taxes at once it suddenly seems overwhelming! (and it is overwhelming – look at our economy).
I think this CA official hinted at what you said about lost post office revenue when an email is sent. After all, the CA official did say his suggested tax could fund post offices. Give me a break!
If the post office is going belly-up because nobody is using it, then it’s probably not needed & should at least be scaled back to reflect demand, or the lack thereof.
Our founding fathers would be sick at the state of our country, were they to see it today.