California is definitely vying to be the stupidest and most progressive state in the Union with this proposal to tax text messages.
California may soon charge its residents a fee for text messaging, according to a report released by state regulators Tuesday.
The report from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) says the tax on text messaging would likely be a flat fee added to a monthly bill instead of a per text tax and the money would be used to fund programs that make phone service available for low-income residents.
Good Lord in heaven. So, phone service is an unalienable right? Bad enough we have ObamaPhones out there, now we’re paying for their wireless service too.
Even more stupidity:
“It’s a dumb idea,” Jim Wunderman, president of business advocacy group the Bay Area Council, told the San Jose Mercury News. “This is how conversations take place in this day and age, and it’s almost like saying there should be a tax on the conversations we have.”
The report outlines the shrinking revenue coming from a current tax on the telecommunications industry and argues that a new tax on text messaging should be put in place to make up for it.
“From a consumer’s point of view, surcharges may be a wash, because if more surcharge revenues come from texting services, less would be needed from voice services,” CPUC spokeswoman Constance Gordon said in a statement. “Generally, those consumers who create greater texting revenues may pay a bit more, whereas consumers using more voice services may pay less.”
Ahh well, see how that works? They tax something, and if it naturally starts being used less, then they look for something else to tax in its place forever and ever and ever…