Internet tax

[Ammon Ra]

BBc article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4235627.stm)

Well, the article itself is rather long, but the point it's talking about is rather simple. Would you be willing to pay taxes for internet, mobile phone networks, and any simlar and future forms of communication?

I actaully wouldn't really mind as long as the tax itself isn't notably high. [1-5%]. Your opinions?

[Moe]

What for? I already pay my ISP:
-for actually having a phone number
-for having a DSL line
-for using said DSL line
-for using said phone

On top of that, I pay a form of "tax" for TV and radio. I pay for the DVDs I watch on the computer, either by buying them or a rental fee from the video store. I do not use any form of streaming media. I have a free email account, but it is full of ads.

If they introduce that tax, I demand that they take away the advertisements on those parts that are being taxed. Or they let you choose, either have an ad-free environment and pay extra, or keep it free but you have to put up with commercials.

[Rent-a-Zilla]

Most people already pay sales tax on their broadband/mobile phone/contract/modem/etc. purchases, so I see little justification for taxing the use of those purchases.

That article also stank:


As you might expect, the idea has not gone down very well in the US, where the view that government might be a force for good in society and that it should be properly funded is seen by many as dangerous liberalism verging on communism.

Yeah, right - governments are wonderful things that never serve their own interests or waste money; people who want politicians etc. to justify their existence are disgusting.

[ionfish]

This is OpEd for the uninformed, Zilla; what do you expect from Bill Thompson, nuanced political commentary that presents a balanced view of difficult issues of political philosophy?

[SquidDNA]

I laughed my ass off when I hit that paragraph, RaZ.

[Alliance]

I second moe, were already paying taxes for everything, why, and for what add more?

If these taxes are for certian sites, then simply nobody would visit them.

Reply to asheshi:

I know, It was a "what if" speculation, I read the article, but Im just bringing the subject up.

Question for the masses: Would you pay to enter web sites? (dont bring up the porn industry k?)

[Ash]

What for? I already pay my ISP

Yeah, we also all pay for food, gas, etc, and that all gets taxed too. Nobody likes taxes, but we pay them anyway. The American government is in desperate need of some revenue right now.

Alliance, the tax would not be on websites, it looks like it will cover internet phone services in order to fairly tax all phone services across the board.

[The Collector]

Long as the tax doesnt hit Instant-Messaging..

[Moe]

Asheshi: I do not pay for the US government.
There was a sales tax on all the hardware, and there is one on the phone bill already, so in fact I am already paying taxes for the internet. I really don't see why I should pay another tax on it.

[DarthVaygr]

"Yeah, we also all pay for food, gas, etc, and that all gets taxed too."

Not here in New Jersey they don't! New Jersey is great in the fact that there are no taxes for food, clothes, or any basic necessities. Taxes on gas though :(

[Zepherian]

I have no problem with said taxes, as long as they stay stateside and I don't have to pay them.

Quite frankly, it seems to me that modern states want to tax more and more and when it comes to actually doing something all they can blabber on about is privatization. Fuck the morons I guess. But I still wonder where all the money is going (well, not US money, that is neatly transformed into WMD's and WMD' (mass and minor) and exported, but in Portugal I wonder what the hell they actually do with the cash, seems that a lot is quite simply wasted. And when they don't have more money, well, let's tax average joe, not the rich, because they create average jobs...

Disgusting how politicians talk about improving standards of living and then do the best to keep us stuck in debt filled mediocrity.

[ionfish]

Zeph: we call them "stealth taxes" over here. Drop income tax, but tax everything else, so you can say "we've cut taxes and funded better public services!"

[Justice-TLSC]

More taxes?

zzz.
I would hate having to fill out more "how much internet did you use this month, what do you use it for, etc." questionnaries on the tax forms.

[SpinDizzy]

Goddamn governments, always looking for a great public service to exploit to pay for their wars and holidays. :p

Only way to avoid tax is to live in the wilderness growing your own food and drinking out of rivers, keeping all your money in a jar, which you'll probably still lose anyway when you get fined for intruding on private property. :D

Freedom is an illusion acted out by a clever democratic system.

I'm really hating all this tax everything malarky, why can't they just bunch it all up as much as possible and stop trying to be sly.

[Ash]

Moe: no, you don't, but people in America do, and seeing how this is an American issue...

I think a tax on broadband would be fair. If we pay taxes on monthly phone/TV bills, paying taxes on monthly broadband seems fair as it eliminates loopholes for people who get their phone (and in the future, TV) through broadband internet. If a large number of people over and there is no tax, the government will see a drop in revenue, and I would rather have that made up through a new tax than through borrowing. Of course, I would rather have it made up through elimination of wasteful budget items, but that is very unlikely to happen.

[Moe]

OK, but I don't get my phone or TV through broadband internet, wouldn't it be kinda unfair to tax me for those things then?
A tax on streaming TV services would make more sense.

[M37]

I think our ISP is taxed... its called the Goods and services tax and it adds 7% to everyting you buy. But I think he's talking specifcaly about another internet tax.. say $20 a year per internet connection... So asumming I gfot 2 computers thats $40 in extra tax. My queston is what would they use the money for

option A Mantianing the line into my house
option B Spreading DSL across the nation
Option C giving it to liberal friendly add firms in Qubec.

- I'm guessing the goverment will say option A but do option C. Any takers?

[SquidDNA]

/me checks most recent broadband bill.

Wow, I'm already paying a 3% franchise fee. I'm not entirely sure what that means, but it seems kind of like a tax.

[Ammon Ra]

This proppsed tax [UK & us, iirc] would be paid by users or isps depending on the elasticity of the goods [internet, voip, non-telephone communications]. unless of course the g'ment finds out a way to by-pass that. elasticity is some small concept of microeconomics but is very important for buisiness and markets. google helps. :)

I do agree that with the whole lot of ads stuffed into our face, this proposed tax seems a bit...un-needed. then again, govornments can always "need" more cash to spend... :smash:

[Ash]

Taxes have nothing to do with ads... we pay tax for TV and still have to sit through commerical advertisements.

[Kained]

Apart from the obvious greed to make more money, what would the purpose of this tax be? Would the tax be then reinvested into better infrastructure or perhaps research into new technology? Unlikey, you don't see automobile taxes being reinvested back into the system. But then again when it cost £70 to paint a fecking yellow box around a cash machine, you gotta wonder how our taxes are being spent.

[TheLoneKnight]

HAhahaa. Yellow box.

Man: "OMG! WTF?! YOU STEPPED INSIDE THE YELLOW BOX!"

Out-of-towner: "..Er..what?"

Man: "D00D. YOU F*CKING MORON, YOU CAN'T STEP INSIDE THE YELLOW BOX WHEN SOMEONE IS MAKING A TRANSACTION, IT'S, LIKE, AGAINST THE LAW OR SOMETHING!"

Out-of-towner: "..Er.. what?"

Man: "OMGWTFLOL! I'M GONNA CALL THE COPS, YOU WAIT HERE!" *runs off*

Out-of-towner: " . . . " *takes the money the man had withdrawn, walks away*



An internet tax would be silly and pointless. Just as silly and pointless as a yellow box. :D

'cause seriously..the internet isn't some magical functioning "omgwtf" machine in neverland. It's just a name for the myriad of computers across the world connecting together through massive servers that ISPs provide. Or even private servers. The internet itself isn't really.. "real". I mean, it's there, but it's nothing more than a connection. And we already pay ISPs for that connection. So we're already paying tax on it, thus taxing the citizens would be silly and inane. Perhaps you could charge ISPs for owning servers, or something, but charging for the connection provided not by the government, but by private ISPs, would be ludicrous. :D

[SocialSecurity]

I'd rather pay a 1-cent fee for every word I speak than have an internet tax.

[The Collector]

There's no public infrastructure that the web runs on. The servers, switching stations, fiberoptic lines and whatnot are all privately owned, and those companies use a bill to maintain upkeep on said systems and pocket a profit.

Of course, the govt reserves the right to levy taxes on stuff it doesn't necessarily directly own. Commerical transactions between person and store are taxed off the top, so application of taxes to our monthly bills is more of the same. A tax on usage is basically the same as sticking the tax on our internet bills.

One cannot tax a person by levying it on a intangible (like the internet). Said tax goes on the medium for access (gasoline taxes to pay for roads), but the tax money isnt necessarily going back towards that medium, as the govt doesnt re-invest money into circuit city after you buy a big-screen TV.

[TheLoneKnight]

You sure about that one-cent tax, man? I mean, hell.. the average movie has something in the area of one hundred thousand words, doesn't it? Something obscenely massive like that.. People talk a -lot-. ^^;

[ionfish]

Sounds like you're getting ripped off, Asheshi; we pay tax for TV, but we get the BBC. ;)

[Guilliman]

hmm here in belgium we dont have eny tax on the tv nomore. :d they got rid of it, instead they probbly raised the salary tax :d


Internet tax??? lol no way, we already pay for electricity, and the internet (41.99€ a months :s).

lets juts hope our goverment doesnt here this, they probably find it a great idea....greedy bastards :s

[Ash]

Ion, we have... umm... PBS? Yeah, you socialist types pay higher taxes and get something for it. We pay somewhat lower taxes and get, well, not that much.

[Zepherian]

You get navy seals and nuke I suppose. Just dont get sick or injured.