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.”
The reason why phone calls and text messages are free on mobile phone plans here is because people hardly use them, so providers are making their money on the overpriced phone data.
If Cali actually realises that, taxing data is probably easier anyway.
As long as we're talking about the 30-40% of Californians who aren't exceptional I agree.
The other 60% need to stay in the mess they created for themselves.
I think even the most liberal/leftist Californian would think this is a horrible idea. Except maybe the really old ones. Also, the past five years? Jesus, that sounds like a socialist hellhole/my nightmare. Do they have so many illegals that this is the only solution they could come up with?
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.
I'm curious how much funding, if any, California receives through the Federal Universal Service Fund (FUSF) which is in place for what seems to be this exact same purpose. Most - if not all - people that have a landline, mobile phone, etc. in the US pay something towards the FUSF. Creating a state-specific version of the FUSF seems redundant.
Of course, this is California, so logic and rational thought don't apply.
California isn't the state of "opt in". It's the state of "Do as we say or get out". To which many of us said "Fine!" and gave them the finger as we crossed the Colorado/Sierras.
Thing is most people that bail on Cali are middle-class working folk. With some many illegals the state government spends more on them than the actual citizens. It's how the California DNC stays in political power. They count illegals' votes and push natives to jump ship. Shame an earthquake doesn't sink the shithole into the ocean.
I don't understand how this is the least bit legally justifiable. It's literally stealing money. It's like making alcohol illegal in 1920 and then throwing someone in prison because they had a drink in 1915.
I don't understand how this is the least bit legally justifiable. It's literally stealing money. It's like making alcohol illegal in 1920 and then throwing someone in prison because they had a drink in 1915.
Cali Kiwis should just mass migrate to Nevada if this shit passes. We have no state income tax, we don't give a fuck about social anything because it's too damn hot, and we actually do have blackjack and hookers.
5 years of retroactive text taxes. Yeah, every young white woman in the state will fucking riot. Cue slew of articles calling this tax racist/sexist/homophobic in 3...2...
They've already done that to Henderson but it's alright Henderson kinda sucks. I just don't want the cool Californians stuck in a non stop taxation gangbang however, the rest of those commies can stay there.
