Taxing the internet


An new EU proposal targets text messaging and email
For all the rumors over the years about the U.S. Post Office taxing emails, trust the E.U. technocrats to actually propose it.

In May, a senior centre-right French MEP named Alain Lamassoure suggested that the EU should levy a tax on text messages (SMS) and email messages to shore up the future financing of EU programs. The suggestion came at the joint European Parliament and national parliament conference on the future of Europe in Brussels and was later debated in the Committee on Budgets. It now appears increasingly likely that the proposal will be considered at the next committee meeting in September despite widespread opposition to the measure that eventually prompted even Lamassoure to distance himself it.

Originally, Lamassoure had this to say: "The economic value of today's globalization lies in information through transactions in the form of international communication. Why don't we levy taxes on this value?" Under his proposal, a tax on an SMS sent within the borders of a member state would be allocated to the national government of that state, while taxes collected on messages sent between the member states would accrue to the EU. The same would apply to email messages.

Lamassoure also argued that in times of globalization, it is less and less easy for states to raise tax revenues. "I suggest this as an idea not only for the EU but also for member states themselves and on the worldwide scale," he said.

Did you catch the justification there? The tax is a good idea because it is harder for states to raise tax revenues. Spoken like a true statist.

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— NeoWayland

Posted: Wed - August 23, 2006 at 06:21 PM  Tag


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