[nukkad] **JUNK** Email and text tax on the way?

["Pravin Kumar. RRd" <>]

[This message contained attachments that have been removed.]


      Email and text tax on the way? 


      Reuters
      May 30, 2006, 16:35 BST


         
      A European Parliament working group is proposing the tax as a novel and 
simple way to raise funds from new technology 




               
            
      European Union lawmakers are investigating a proposed tax on emails and 
mobile phone text messages as a way to fund the 25-member bloc in the future.



      A European Parliament working group is reviewing the idea, tabled by 
Alain Lamassoure, a prominent French MEP and member of the centre-right 
European People's Party, the assembly's largest group.



      Lamassoure, a member of Jacques Chirac's UMP party, is proposing to add a 
tax of about 1.5 euro cents on text or SMS messages and a 0.00001 cent levy on 
every email sent.



      He said: "This is peanuts but given the billions of transactions every 
day, this could still raise an immense income."



      Currently the EU budget is funded through a combination of import duties, 
value added tax revenues and direct contributions from member states - the 
so-called "Gross National Income resource", which is calculated according to 
wealth.



      However, following a year-long battle over the current seven-year budget, 
agreed on last December, it was decided that the way in which the EU is funded 
should be changed, with new proposals expected by 2008/09.



      A single "EU tax" has found support among many of the 25 EU governments, 
MEP's and the European Commission, the EU's executive arm. Other ideas include 
a tax on airline tickets and an extra levy on oil companies.



      In Italy, the concept of a tax on texting was floated in the past, as a 
way to help offset the country's huge deficit, though it was flatly rejected by 
the outgoing government.



      But Lamassoure argues that with billions of emails and texts sent around 
the world, it's a novel and simple way to raise funds from new technology.



      He said: "Exchanges between countries have ballooned, so everyone would 
understand that the money to finance the EU should come from the benefits 
engendered by the EU."

     



[This message contained attachments that have been removed.]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do NOT fail to find the fun.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To join/leave, use the form at: http://www.mumbai-central.com/nukkad/#options
This list is archived at: http://www.mumbai-central.com/nukkad/archive.html