Thursday, December 13, 2018

IT DOESN'T STOP: California Proposes a Plan to Tax Text Messages

The bureaucratic ructators are always thinking up new ways to tax and attempt to link it to "do good" services as they expand their bureaucracies.

California regulators want to tax text messages to increase funds for programs that bring connectivity to "underserved" residents, reports CNN.

A new surcharge proposed by the California Public Utilities Commission wouldn't be a per-text tax, but a monthly fee based on a cellular bill that includes any fees for text-message services. Most carriers offer a flat fee option for texting, and already charge a similar fee for other services included in the bill — such as phone calls. The exact structure of the charge would vary from carrier to carrier.

The commission will vote on the measure January 10, 2019, and is facing strong opposition from industry trade groups like the CTIA, which represents AT&T Mobility, Sprint, and T-Mobile.

I am really sick of government bureaucrats using the poor and emergency services as a cover story to expand their bureaucracies.

The pretext (semi-pun intended) for this tax is to raise funds for a number of different programs, including 911 services, subsidized phone service for low-income residents, and equipment for deaf and hard-of-hearing users.

I would much rather see the CPUC shut down, utilities freed to operate in the market and charity efforts privatized.

End bureaucracies, let the belchers find honest work!

-RW 

4 comments:

  1. ...and they want to apply it retroactively!

    "But they add that under the regulators’ proposal the charge could be applied retroactively for five years — which they call “an alarming precedent” — and could amount to a bill of more than $220 million for California consumers."

    https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/12/11/omg-now-california-wants-to-tax-text-messaging/

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  2. What the???

    "The pretext (semi-pun intended) for this tax is to raise funds for a number of different programs, including 911 services, subsidized phone service for low-income residents, and equipment for deaf and hard-of-hearing users."

    Hey, call me stupid, but they ALREADY have fees for this crap on my phone bill. So, it's yet another fee on top of a fee!

    I sometimes am grateful that I don't live in California. However, I then realize that the politicians in Utah aren't a whole hell of a lot better because they love to find new sources of what they call "revenue".

    Criminals, all of them.

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  3. If the regulators can get the fee's high enough, folks can go back to handwriting letters and buying stamps. So it goes with progressivism.

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  4. How long, I wonder, before we are taxed on the air we breathe, in order to pay for anti-climate-warming programs?

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