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My hometown still has to rely on either dial-up or wireless plan. Neither of these are adequate for businesses, gaming or effective media streaming, so I know that rural connectivity is a problem.
However, this proposal just reeks of a big giveback for telecoms to bring broadband/fiber service to undeserved area. I'd ordinarily be okay with something like this, but when you also look at how many states have recently passed laws banning municipal governments from proving broadband infrastructure (like what was successfully done in Chattanooga) you can see what this is a transfer of public wealth to telecom companies.
Paying taxes is patriotic. Nobody made it "big" without the infrastructure we've all paid for. Taxes laid the bedrock for entrepreneurship.Try moving petroleum products or other freight without the Interstates or our lock and dam system (just a couple of examples of US socialism which people don't think about/appreciate on a daily basis, yet take for granted), and I haven't even mentioned hydro-electric dams yet...
The Tea Party types believe that their movement has something to do with the "Boston Tea Party" (apparently; else they wouldn't have chosen that name?) inexplicably (and erroneously). They HAVE representatives (the original Tea Party was about taxation without representation; they weren't anti-tax) so crying about taxes just makes them sound like selfish whiners, misrepresenting a crucial point in American history, and want the protection of "nation" status yet don't want to pay for it.
Very few people (who actually pay taxes; the 47% that just wants everybody else to pay taxes for them are not whom I'm referring to here) have a problem with paying taxes. What we have a problem with is us paying more than a fair share of taxes to the government, only to watch them spend it by authorizing 3rd and 4th tier priority projects ahead of 1st and 2nd tier projects, then coming to the people and saying "We don't have enough money! If we don't get more, we're going to have to go without this important service!". Or spending it by carrying an overly bloated employee headcount, and paying those employees too much, etc.
THAT is the reason a lot of us are opposed to any new taxes - it's because we realize that the taxes we provide right now are more than enough, they just aren't being used properly.
It is amusing to see Google pushing for this tax rather than a tax on the services they provide or sell. I wonder how they would react if the FCC put a tax on each ad clicked?
Not to mention that Republicans are trying to gut the FCC so that we have nothing but a telecommunications monopoly that can impose whatever fees they like on consumers and run up the cost of service. God forbid we should actually have free-market capitalism and competition in this country.
Wow, what rock have you been hiding under? We haven't had true free-market captialism in this country since Woodrow Wilson took office. What we have is state capitalism, not free-market capitalism.
Free markets do not impose government taxation for usage and regulation.
Okay, you already have a tax on your phone, and wireless. It funds the universal service fund. .
As those tax revenues go down (due to the transition to broadband data) it makes sense that you would transfer the tax from the above sources to broadband data. I think the above text is a little misleading (they already levy voice, text, etc)
So I wouldn't think of it as a new tax, its a transition of a current tax as the other methods are outdated.
Now if you want to say that we don't need the Connect America Fund and its wrong. . thats fine. Yet the FCC has been levying a fee since the beginning of phone lines in order to subsidize development into undeserved areas. Has nothing to do with a specific president.
My hometown still has to rely on either dial-up or wireless plan. Neither of these are adequate for businesses, gaming or effective media streaming, so I know that rural connectivity is a problem.
However, this proposal just reeks of a big giveback for telecoms to bring broadband/fiber service to undeserved area. I'd ordinarily be okay with something like this, but when you also look at how many states have recently passed laws banning municipal governments from proving broadband infrastructure (like what was successfully done in Chattanooga) you can see what this is a transfer of public wealth to telecom companies.
Wireless is the way to go vs running cable/fibre. I have Verizon and get 3G capability. And I am rural with not many options.
Gaming and watching videos is not a problem for me with 3G. Maybe you're still at 1XRTT which is crappy as it's first gen but when 3G comes your way I think you'll find it as a huge improvement. It's fast, stable and gives me DSL speeds, enough for watching Hulu TV shows and for online gaming.
"The Federal Communications Commission is eyeing a proposal to tax broadband Internet service. The move would funnel money to the Connect America Fund, a subsidy the agency created last year to expand Internet access. The FCC issued a request for comments on the proposal in April. Dozens of companies and trade associations have weighed in, but the issue has largely flown under the public's radar. "If members of Congress understood that the FCC is contemplating a broadband tax, they'd sit up and take notice," said Derek Turner, research director for Free Press, a consumer advocacy group that opposes the tax."
Don't forget folks that a big chunk of that stimulus money was to go to expanding internet to rural areas.
The money ended up in cities to buy computers and internet service for the poor instead.
Where did that $7.2 billion in stimulus money earmarked for rural broadband go to ?
Paying an unreasonable tax rate to a government who has traditionally squandered, what they deem to be an endless supply of cash, is utterly stupid and unpatriotic !!!!!!
You do realize it is not just the end consumer that is being taxed on the net, it also includes the sellers who buy components in bulk from other websites on the net. so it stands to reason the cost of items will skyrocket as a high as the promised energy costs under obama's 'energy plan'.
get the idea that all this stuff is inter-related?
Not to mention that Republicans are trying to gut the FCC so that we have nothing but a telecommunications monopoly that can impose whatever fees they like on consumers and run up the cost of service. God forbid we should actually have free-market capitalism and competition in this country.
That doesn't happen when government decides to run the show.
Verizon, AT&T, Cricket, etc. are all doing just fine and expanding coverage and provide the competition to keep prices low.
Get the government in charge and you will end up paying sky high rates/taxes just like every other program where they "stepped in to help".
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Oh the irony!
