Good day all. The rapacious monster known as the People’s Democratic Republic of Kalifornistan recently came up with what they thought was an absolutely brilliant idea. Institute a retroactive tax on text messaging.
The idea to tax text messages has already been shot down by the FCC, so it’s now a moot point. Still, they idea that Kalifornistan would tax each text message shows just how far gone that state is. Here are some of the details from Fox Business:
Text messaging could be the next victim in California’s push for higher taxes.
Nope, but more on that later in this post.
State regulators are considering charging a fee for text messaging on mobile phones in order to help programs that make phone service accessible to the poor, according to a report from the Mercury News. The proposal, which is scheduled for a vote next month by the California Public Utilities Commission, faces opposition from the wireless industry and business groups.
Oh, so this wasn’t even going to be voted on by the Kalifornistan People’s Congress? Good to know that Kalifornistan is now fully into taxation without representation. I seem to recall a small rebellion against the British Crown some 248 years ago regarding that very subject.
It’s unclear how much individuals would have to pay for texting services, but according to the Mercury News, it would likely be billed as a flat surcharge per customer, not a fee a per text.
I have little doubt that the original idea floated in some meeting did suggest a per text tax. I also suspect it was shot down due to the people running the Utilities Commission not wanting to end up decorating lamposts.
In a lengthy report, the California Public Utilities Commission lays out the reasoning for the texting tax, revealing that California’s total reported revenue from the state telecommunications industry declined to $11.2 billion in 2017 from $16.5 billion in 2011, while the Public Purpose Program budget has soared to $998 million in 2017, compared to $670 million 2011. The revenue from the telecommunications industry is used to fund the program.
Gee, I wonder why that is? Could it be that people are moving out of the state and your tax base is shrinking? Naw, that couldn’t be it.
Business groups estimated the new charges for wireless customers could equal about $44.5 million a year. For customers, it could end up costing more than $220 million, because the proposal allows the charge to be retroactively applied for the past five years.
Oh that’s a great way to get the revolution started. There’s nothing like retroactive taxation to make people look at their stocks of ammunition. However, it’s all a moot point now. The Federal Communications Commission shot their cunning plan down in flames. According to a report in Fox News:
The California Public Utilities Commission has withdrawn from its January meeting agenda a scheduled vote on imposing a tax on text messaging. The move came after the Federal Communications Commission in Washington declared text messaging to be an “information service,” not a telecommunications service, and thus not subject to a surcharge under California law.
“Prior to this FCC ruling,” the CPUC wrote in a statement posted on Twitter, “text messaging was not a classified service under federal law.
“In light of the FCC’s action,” the statement added, “assigned Commissioner Carla J. Peterman has withdrawn from the CPUC’s Jan. 10, 2019 Voting Meeting agenda the draft decision in Docket R.17-06-023, which proposed to clarify that text messaging service should be subject to the [state of California’s[ statutory surcharge requirement.”
So, how about that, Progressives? President Trump’s FCC shutdown one of the tax happy agencies and saved you a bundle of money. Does that make you feelz better?
Jim Patterson, a Republican former mayor of Fresno who now represents the state’s 23rd District as a state assemblyman, was among those hailing the CPUC’s decision to cancel the vote.
“You can bet I’ll keep a watchful eye on them for future shenanigans,” Patterson wrote on Twitter. “For now…consider the Text Tax cancelled.”
Previously, Patterson had characterized the text tax plan as “an outrageous attempt at a money grab from California families.”
Of course it was. As far as the Kalifornistan government is concerned, all your money belongs to them. They might allow you to keep a small amount of it. No, actually, they want that too.
The CPUC had claimed that revenues for its subsidy programs have been falling as consumers switch from traditional landline telecom services to text messaging, FOX 11 of Los Angeles reported.
Now here is an interesting thought. I have my SMS service turned off to my cellphone. When I need to send out a text message, I use Google Voice, or WhatsApp. Since I use a pay as you go service, (Ting.com), I save a few dollars a month by not using their text service. I wonder how the CommuNazi Party Utilities Commission would handle that? I really can’t see Googlag or Faceplant giving any information to the CPUC, unless they buy it.
As for the 5 year retroactive money grab? I suspect Antifa, which uses texting quite extensively, would pay the commission a visit. In fact, it might be the one thing to get Antifa, the Proud Boys and all the Trump supporters on the same side. Wouldn’t that be a hoot?
Thatisall
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