California Considering a “Texting Tax”
From USA Today:
California’s Public Utilities Commission is considering a plan that would charge mobile phone users a fee for sending text messages, according to recent public law filings.
The proposal is partially due to landline-era legislation coupled with the fact the people are shifting patterns away from voice calls in favor of texting.
California is determining whether surcharges and user fees on text messaging comply with Public Purpose Programs, which use tax revenue to make telecommunications services accessible to low-income residents. The programs, which date to the 1930s, were given a face-lift in the late 1990s, allowing individual states to impose requirements to preserve what’s referred to as a “universal service.”
