E911 Tax Money - When It's Not Going To Boots, It Just Goes
from the Fleece-'em,-Danno dept
Your U.S.A. cellular phone bill, since the early 1990s, has had a fee levied on it by governments for E911 services. The fee differed from state to state, and was ostensibly to fund the upgrade of 911 call centers. The public safety call centers were to be readied to receive location information from cell phones, and to use that information to instruct emergency crews. The cellular carriers were required to collect this tax for the government, but were also separately required to design, create, and deploy the (much more expensive) systems that can determine where the caller is. The government basically required the carriers to fund a public safety system (which you may or may not agree with). One thing with which none of us could agree was that the E911 taxes on our phone bills were promptly squandered by governments, for years, on just about everything except 911 call center upgrades. Money was mis-spent on ballpoint pens, conference attendance, dry cleaning, and boots.
Most of that is history; much of the US is now ugraded. (Please don't rely on E911, as it only works when you have a good cell signal, battery power, and a few other things. Don't use it as a crutch or as a "safety device"!) So what do you think will happen to those monthly taxes that were collected for so many years? Time to cancel them, right? Not so fast, says the State of Hawaii, which gets 66 cents of E911 fees from every monthly bill. This article in the Honolulu Advertiser shows how various government agencies are trying to get their hands on the "windfall." A few examples of this include: the Honolulu PD wants a new dispatch system for $20m, the Board that manages the fund wants their mandate extended to spend on other tech like VoIP location, the State hired a new Executive Director of the E911 fund for $294,421/yr, the legislature is taking $16M from the fund to help balance the budget, and some are trying to build new cell towers with the money. The article predicts future raids on the funds, and given what we've seen nationwide, we would agree.
What is it about this country that we can't just call a tax a tax. We seem to have an addiction to tucking and hiding fees into a wide range of services, where over time the fees have little to do with the services. Dear government: If you're going to tax me, please just do it up front, talk to me honestly, and say it's a tax. I want to feel you reaching into my pocket, instead of having you just skim the till behind my back.
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Filed Under: e911, misappropriation, money
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Wishful Thinking...
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Re: Wishful Thinking...
ps. im not crazy yet
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Totally Agree
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Bits OK?
However, where I am (South Australia) we have a similar 'tax', the Emergency Services levy, which was ostensibly to provide a joint radio network for Fire, Police and Ambulance so they could all cross-communicate when required (previously they were all on different systems). That goal was achieved about three years ago, but we're still getting the demand for payment every year...
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Zombie Taxes - they don't go away
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Taxes
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Let the Raiding Begin
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Re:
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Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?
Perhaps some overly eager person is running the Emergency Dispatch Center Program and is trying to earn their wings and beef up their resume before leaving town.
So I'll put it plainly: The way it works in America is elected officials have to EARN the public trust. Back-alley taxes and closed room deals really isn't the way to do it. If the Trust Fund is running at a surplus, then there should be a dispersal back to the taxpayers, unless the taxpayers VOTE to disperse the remaining funds elsewhere.
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1) Even if they say it's to pay for Y, nothing prevents them from using it for Z, if not right away then as soon as the spotlight is off them. Consider many, many examples... In fact, has raising a tax on X to pay for Y ever worked as advertised?
2) If those babies are now getting money from the general coffers (and they almost certainly are) then they are in political equilibrium. As soon as they are better off because of this new tax (IF that ever happens) then those who write the general budget can quietly scale back and give them that much less.
3) If we want to put more money into Y, do we have to raise a new tax? Can't you think of a few things we could cut back on? (NOTE: if your opponent wants to choose "the alternative", you are being conned again.)
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Seen it before...
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Giving money to politicians is like...
Yes, they are not stewards of our money. I've learned to laugh at them all (dems/repubs) They all love to tax and spend. The biggest tax of course is the inflation they cause by printing money. Taxes never stop, they always find a new tax. And the justifications they shout about never matter because the money always ends up in the pockets of the politicians.
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Re:
True, but consider my post again. I don't call out my readers by name, but I'm trying to make a point to the citizens as well as the government.
We should utterly refuse the backdoor taxes, but that means we need to also accept a few upfront taxes. How much you accept is fodder for elections.
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Hidden taxes
Kentucky tried this. The federal courts struck it down as a First Amendment violation. (What better way to show the effect of a tax law than to show the effect on the customer's bottom line.)
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