Reuters is reporting that 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.
We don't know what they mean. It's clear that emails and mobile phone text messages are already taxed (at least indirectly) - and not just in Europe. Every country with a VAT (or equivalent tax) already draws tax revenue from mobile phone services and internet access services.
It's hard to imagine how email or sms messages could be taxed in any other way - while the "per message" charging for SMS does facilitate this, to some extent, tracking emails would probably cost more than whatever charge could reasonably be levied upon the e-mail. And what happens if the EU citizen uses servers entirely outside of the EU? (e.g. Gmail) There's also some substance to Techdirt's point that "just about everyone would rebel against it."
However, perhaps there's some really intelligent solution. Who knows? We're quite sure, though that the following quotation from Alain Lamassoure, the prominent French MEP who tabled the suggestion is simply... silly.
"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,"
Oh yes, thank you so much, EU, for modern technology!
[Image Credit: RP Online]
