Slashdot Mirror
UK Possibly Exploring "Google Tax"
The UK government is considering proposals that could hit Google and other search engines with an online advertising tax to help boost revenue for the BBC. While these proposals are still in their infancy, some are already attacking the idea of taxing a growth industry in the middle of a recession. "Sources say the proposed taxes have been discussed by officials at the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. They would also have to be approved by the Treasury before they could be introduced. The chair of the culture, media and sport committee, Conservative MP John Whittingdale, dismissed what he called a 'windfall tax' on search engines."
The better question is "is there nothing they won't go after?"
Just "gittin-r-done," day after day.
If it shuts people up about twitter, that might be one of my favorite taxes of all time.
If you're so angry about it, why don't you twitter to let people know?
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
The way the BBC is funded is magnificent and the envy of the world. You can see this from the awed comments here and in other places. That said, like all magnificent things, it is still capable of improvements, and we in New Labour are always anxious to improve life in Britain. We usually do this by thinking things through.
In the present case, we notice that the way the BBC is funded is that everyone who watches any sort of TV, whether he or she watches the BBC or not, is obliged under penalty of fines and jail to subscribe to the BBC. This as we say is magnificent and the envy of the world. We understand that the US is considering the same way of funding GM. Anyone who buys a car will be obliged to donate a sum, probably 10% or so of the value of their purchase, to GM, whether they buy a GM car or not. But we digress. Well actually the same model is under consideration in Belgium, where Del Haize is to get a contribution from everyone who wants to buy groceries, which will be most people. We must move on though. But first can we just say that everyone is doing this, we lead the world, they are all following our example.
Anyway, great as the BBC and its funding model are, after long thought, we realize that yes, we can do better. How?
Well, the BBC operates web sites. Clearly, anyone who uses any sort of web site should be obliged to subscribe, or at least pay something, to the BBC. Therefore, we are going to have a tax on Internet use, some or all of whose proceeds will go to the BBC, for it to operate its public service web sites.
Do you see now how reasonable this is? That's good, we thought you would.
I am just going to whoosh myself...
Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.