Tories to scrap broadband tax
A CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT would scrap the mandatory 50p a month tax on phone lines proposed in the government's Digital Britain report, shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt told the Financial Times today.
The government proposed the tax to raise £175 million to pay for universal broadband coverage - ensuring a speed of 2Mbps for everyone in the country.
Some parts of the country still do not have access to high speed broadband because it is not commercially viable for companies to extend their networks to more remote regions.
Hunt said any Conservative government would scrap the tax "as soon as possible" if it won an election due next summer.
The proposal is not law yet but is expected to be brought before parliament in a "digital economy" bill next month.
Hunt also hinted that he would look at the BBC's distortion of the online news market.
"It might sound well and good for them to have, say, an angling website, but if it drove every angling magazine in the country out of business, you would have to question if it was the right sort of thing to do," he said.
Many newspapers currently struggling with developing models to monetize online news are claiming that the BBC distorts the market by providing services for free. µ
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Last time I checked my bank account the BBC wasn't free.
Looks like the British like American broadband so much they they want to copy us! It's great, broadband is only available in high density areas and speeds are mediocre unless you want to pay bloated fees. Welcome on board!
Now if only the conservatives will scrap/reduce the rest of the left wing socialist taxes that have devastated the UK economy.
Scrapping this tax is the worst idea they could come up with. BT aren't going to pay for 21CN on their own, and if we don't raise the money through tax, we're going to be stuck in the interwibble dark-ages. The actual negative value of this tax is pretty insubstantial to the end user anyway.
I for one am not going to pay this tax even at its tiny £6 per year to help out people in the styx get broadband. The tax is being levied on anyone who has a fixed phone line, I have one, but its a Virginal line, not BT. As BT is going to end up with the proceeds I say sod off to the government for imposing a tax on behalf of BT. Remember that the reason why BT's broadband throughout the land is so slow is that BT chose to go with cheap copper instead of expensive Fiber a decade or so back. Phuq BT and Phuq the government. Go with virgin in town, and pray for miracles outside of town.
Also remember that people outside of towns have benefits that people inside of towns dont get, do we get to tax the people in the Styx because of those things.?
Well the tax *might* conceivably be a good idea *if* the money was cast-iron guaranteed to be spent on the broadband infrastructure (which it won't), and if it was enough to pay for it (which it isn't).
The tax will no more pay for broadband, and only broadband, than road tax pays for roads, and the taxes on fags and booze pay for the costs of treating lung cancer and liver disease.
It's much more likely to be used for eg. funding the publicity campaign for ID cards, etc.
Tories have given Mr Mordish exactly what he wants, promises that OFCOM will be snuffed out so that BSkyB can do what it wants and monopolise UK media to your detriment girls and boys.
In return the sun & other RupeyPopey media enterprises are backing the Tories in a blatant 'you scratch my back I make your problems go away' backroom deal with Mordosh.
The BBC dared to broadcast this fact and now the Tories are bashing the BBC to threatent them, shut them up and stifle all dissidents.
What a stitch up. Worse than Blair and Hutton. Every day the Tories upper crust leaders look more like Britain's answer to Berlusconi except for the shagging and corruption and lawsuits...
Are we really that dumb?
I'm from the US, but this sounds a lot like something they do here.
When a billionaire Sports team owner needs a new stadium to make more money in, do they pay for it themselves? Hell no! They put up a small percentage and the local politicians raise taxes to pay for it. They "justify" this with the jobs it will save/create. Right wing/left wing. Just two different ways to say crook, no matter which side of the pond you are on.
"the BBC distorts the market by providing services for free"
Err, no. The BBC is paid for by the licence fee and that money provides an excellent news service. I applaud the BBC on-line services and don't want to see any of it monetized.
I would go further ... current affairs are vital to democracy, if people don't have free access to information about what is going on they can't make democratic judgements.