in order to "help the poor".

https://www.foxnews.com/us/cal...messages-reports-say


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Text messages might be next to face California tax, reports say



California state regulators have been working on a plan to charge mobile phone users a text messaging fee intended to fund programs that make phone service accessible to the low-income residents, reports said Tuesday.

The California Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to vote on the proposal next month, but critics have already come out against the scheme, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

“It’s a dumb idea,” Jim Wunderman, president of the Bay Area Council business group, told the paper. “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.”

While the amount consumers would be expected to pay remained unclear, some business groups are saying the new charges could cost wireless users more than $44 million a year, FOX11 Los Angeles reported.

Charges may also be applied retroactively to messages sent in the past five years, which has raised questions concerning the proposal’s legality, Rufus Jeffress, vice president of the Bay Area Council, told the San Francisco Bay Area's KNTV-TV. The “alarming precedent” could chalk up to a bill of more than $220 million for consumers, the Mercury News reported.

The wireless industry argues that the fees would put carriers at a disadvantage since competing messaging services like Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp would not be charged the new fees, FOX11 reported.

Those against the proposal said that wireless customers already pay into the state’s Public Purpose Programs, which they call “healthy and well-funded” with nearly $1 billion in its budget, the Mercury News reported. But state regulators disagree, saying the budget has increased more than $300 million over six years, KNTV reported.

Residents lamented the potential tax, calling it “dumb” and “unfair.”

“To have them charge us something else is just dumb,” a Bay Area resident told KNTV. “I think it’s very unfair, especially for the people that can barely pay for their cell phone plan already.”


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The people sending the most text messages are likely "the poor", aka, people without jobs who sit around all day texting.

California : Go Tax Yourself

quote:

in order to "help the poor".

Don't they already all have Obamaphones?
Every "poor" person I see has a better phone than I do...

I have several friends there who are normal people. I keep wondering when the revolt will occur.

So...The Stamp Act, 2018 edition?

Didn't we used to have revolutions over such nonsense?

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
So...The Stamp Act, 2018 edition?

Didn't we used to have revolutions over such nonsense?

Yeah, back before the majority of our population lost their freaking minds

This is a fantastic idea that deserves our support. The coveted millennial voting block would be in open rebellion against the Dems Within minutes.

quote:

Originally posted by asonie:
This is a fantastic idea that deserves our support. The coveted millennial voting block would be in open rebellion against the Dems Within minutes.

No, the market would react and a non-text, nontaxable medium would take over within a short time.

Technically an Apple blue "text" isn't even a text message as it's not SMS and goes over the data network, not cellular network. Would that be taxed too?

Only certain things in life - death and taxes.

Will the tax be progressive? If not they will be taxing the poor to pay the poor. Seems like it would be more efficient to just not tax the poor for using their phones.

I fuckin hate this state!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by asonie:
This is a fantastic idea that deserves our support. The coveted millennial voting block would be in open rebellion against the Dems Within minutes.

No, the market would react and a non-text, nontaxable medium would take over within a short time.

Technically an Apple blue "text" isn't even a text message as it's not SMS and goes over the data network, not cellular network. Would that be taxed too?

I hear ya, mostly that was sarcasm.

quote:

Originally posted by F12517:
I fuckin hate this state!!!!!

Ditto

Wouldn't the poor be more inclined to get cheap text only plans?

Idiots!!

Jim

Next up for Kalifornia:
Poopy Paper Tax: Per sheet used.
Retroactive for every poop taken since 1970.

Why tax the text messages, I see tv ads all the time for free cell phones with free minutes and text. These are for low income at no cost. Don't they have those in Kalifornia ?

quote:

Charges may also be applied retroactively to messages sent in the past five years

RETROACTIVE FOR 5 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These people are absolutely out of control.

I know where I'd like the comet to impact first.

Hey Cali... seen Paris lately?

Next is a masturbation tax because you’re cheating a hooker out of earning $10 for a hand job.