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Possible Taxes For Broadband Users

Morganis101 writes "CNET News reports that some broadband users might have to endure new universal service taxes. From the article: 'The suggestions came as lawmakers started debating changes to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which created the framework for the Universal Service Fund. The USF should continue to be industry funded, but the base of contributors should be expanded to all providers of two-way communications, regardless of technology used, to ensure competitive neutrality, a bipartisan coalition of rural legislators said in a June 28 letter to the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, which will be drafting the rewrites. That means companies providing broadband services such as VoIP over telephone wires would also have to pay into the fund.'"

5 of 262 comments (clear)

  1. All Those War Taxes... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    We already got a telephone tax to fund the Spanish-American War (1898). I wouldn't be surprised if we have a broadband tax to fund the Iraqi-American War, too.

  2. Re:Logic? by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 4, Funny

    The logic is:

    They are the government. You have money. They want it.

    Everything else is just rationalization.

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    You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
  3. Re:Future speak by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yeah, but here's the context:

    We will need more taxes revenues to finance our spending like a drunken sailor. We should give you a justification for it, seeing as how we waste so much money, billions literally fall through the cracks. But we might be able to slip it in a way that you won't notice, like so many other taxes you pay... indirectly. If not and you complain, we will suggest that you are unpatriotic.

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    You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
  4. Makes me glad... by soft_guy · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...that I'm using my neighbors WiFi network.

    Network name: Linksys
    No wep key...

    Woo hoo! No cable fees for soft_guy!

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    Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
  5. Re:Taxation Without Reputation by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Your tax breakdown is BS. Maybe you didn't read the link I posted, but the number of rich people who pay no taxes just increased to 115% in the past year alone. How do you explain that? Their productivity?

    Or some pedantic distinction between revenue and profit? What's your point? Corporations don't pay taxes on income, they pay it on profit. And anyone who's paying 90% of their income to make it is the kind of fool who makes $1M a year only by theft - and they don't pay taxes. Like those people paying no taxes, or the 50% of corporations which have paid no taxes since 1998. Where are you getting this "generating wealth honestly" BS?

    To be more precise about your BS talking point justifying the free ride you want out of the tax system: The top 50% had 86.2% of the income. Sure, they paid 96% of the taxes, on "only" 86% of the income. But the bottom 50% had and income under $29K. Consider the overhead we all must pay for food, shelter, energy, clothing, which comes out of that first $29K. After that, it's all Mercedes, beach houses, caviar... or rice & beans. Even if $20K is overhead, that remaining $9K ($600:month) at the bottom is being taxed at about the same rate as the remaining several million at the top. Especially when we're talking about the very top: the top 1% have about 125% the income of the bottom 50%.

    FWIW, I'll see your irrelevant "Wes Clark", and raise you the relevant Grover Norquist. Who hates taxes, but not as much as the government itself, the "beast" he hopes to "starve", "until it's small enough to drown in the bathtub". You're going to love that, when there's no government to tax you, but also nothing stopping corporations from ripping every cent out of your hide.

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    make install -not war