Government Looking To Tax Your Email?

Taxing Your Email?

Be careful before you hit "SEND" soon enough if one official in California has it his way, every email you send could come at a cost!  While many in Legislation have identified that the internet is an untapped revenue source that could "be used to help local economies" the idea of having emails as taxable seems absurd to most Americans.

Taxing Emails? Not A Good Idea

Berkeley City Councilman Gordon Wozniak recently pitched the idea in a council meeting, suggesting that money be collected as a wider reaching Internet Tax.  His argument was based on the idea of using such monies as an effort to save the local Post Office. 

So just how much money would be taxed per email?  For Wozniak, it would be 1 cent per gigabit which in his calculations, "...would net billions of dollars a year."

Aside from the 1998 Congressional Law that was passed, the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which bans Internet taxation, many in the hi-tech industry speculate the Government could one day turn to the Internet for an additional funding stream.

The argument that it will eliminate Spammers and Scammers is almost an empty argument.  For those of us in the "tech" world we know that Spammers often acquire email lists or plant phishing code in ads they place maliciously, once attained, they send emails from distant Countries or devices registered in Countries.  So that bears the question: how would they be held to this "tax?"  In essence, Spam will continue.  For those of us legitimate emailers, say in the workplace, will all internal email communications be taxed?  Will Senators and Congressmen exempt themselves from this Tax?  How will the tax work with sending emails to loved ones in the Military (especially large data video files of our children wishing Mommy or Daddy Merry Christmas etc).

What do you think about paying taxes on emails?  Please share with us your comments and have your friends and family also share theirs!