European Union moots SMS and email tax

The move is being looked at by a European Parliament working group being run by Alain Lamassoure, a prominent French MEP and member of the centre-right European People's Party.

Lamassoure, who is a member of Jacques Chirac's UMP party, wants to tax each SMS by a penny and have a US0.00001 cent levy on every email.

Givem the number of daily transactions it could raise the EU a lot of dosh, he said. Mind you so could cutting subsidies to French farmers.

However Alain thinks an email tax could lead to the EU rethinking its funding through import duties, value added tax revenues and direct contributions from member states.

So far every government that has considered such taxes has had to end up rejecting them.

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