Feds Look At Taxing WiFi?
from the yeah,-that'll-win-lots-of-fans dept
The details on this aren't all that clear, but RCR Wireless News has gone through President Bush's latest budget plan, and note that he would allow taxing un-auctioned radio spectrum, such as those used for WiFi and cordless phones. Apparently, the budget plan notes that this could raise quite a bit of cash -- though skips over how it might also slow down usage of such spectrum dramatically. It's also not at all clear how this would be done. Since most people don't ever pay to use unlicensed spectrum, it's difficult to see how they start charging a fee on it, unless they add for equipment providers to tack on. If anyone has more details, please post them here because, at first glance, this sounds more like a "well, what haven't we taxed yet?" type of plan, rather than anything that has been seriously thought through. Update: As we suspected, there's much less to this than it says. Harold Feld is running around clearing up the confusion and pointing out how one reporter's misinterpretation is spreading. Basically, this has little to nothing to do with WiFi.
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farmers
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Re: farmers
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Re: farmers
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not to sound like an idiot but...
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Re: not to sound like an idiot but...
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No Subject Given
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overTaxing the People
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Re: More taxes
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if you must pin it on something perhaps u should give hurricane katrina some thought
in addition.. normally it isnt the president that comes up with ideas. its the advisors =)
bush is just a front so the people have something to look at
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No Subject Given
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Re: No Subject Given
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Please tell me...
More to the point, this article [Wikipedia.org] points out that the use of certain frequencies for wireless access are already permitted/sanctioned by the FCC.
Now, this is not to say that enterprising politicians (not limited to just the POTUS) wouldn't wish to change the rules. However, just because the term "un-auctioned" radio spectrum is bantered about does not mean that you are going to have to pay an additional $0.50 per wireless router you purchase.
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yeah... but
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republican???????
want to tax everything and spend it on our military...
are we sure Jr.'s really a tax slashing, military cutting republican?
oh wait.....
is that how we're $8 Trillion in debt!
~~~I'm so confused~~~
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No Subject Given
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Unlicensed vs. taxed
Anyway, I can't see it happening. Too many folks have built their businesses around providing equipment and services thanks to this public resource.
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Unlicensed spectrum fee is a shockingly bad idea
But it is so fundamentally wrongheaded in principle that the mind boggles. Bush&Co. must have flunked Econ 101: "different spectrum license acquisition costs" are a normal feature of markets, where suppliers are free to charge what they think the market will bear. Would the Govt close the budget gap by adding "user fees" to EVERY product to eliminate ALL price differences?
This proposal completely ignores the fact that licensed spectrum users have different rights than unlicensed users - they are paying more for the EXCLUSIVITY of frequency use and for govt enforcement of their right of non-interference. If the Govt wants to charge unlicensed users, what benefits will be given to them in return?
Since we work to promote more unlicensed spectrum in developing countries, we see the risk of even proposing this idea. Now (almost) legitimized by a country like the US, ostensibly committed to free market principles, it may be implemented by other countries. India, for example, just decided not to allow their telecom regulator to reduce spectrum fees because the central govt needs income to reduce already sky-high taxes on other things. I would expect them to start internal discussions about WiFi user fees before the end of the week.
This idea must be fought and killed before it infects other "public goods" elsewhere.
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Re: Unlicensed spectrum fee is a shockingly bad id
Wake up and vote against these folks and start paying attention to your own self interest.
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