Posted on 04/03/2010 2:46:11 PM PDT by highlander_UW
WA Legislature OKs tax increase for 911 upgrades THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- State lawmakers have approved a bill that lets counties and the state increase taxes on land lines and cell phones to pay for 911 system upgrades.
Voice-over-Internet phone services would be taxed as well under the bill, which got final approval from the state House on a 56-34 vote Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattlepi.com ...
Geez, before long the taxes on the phone bill will eclipse the charges for service.
I’m surprise they didn’t pass this for unwed mothers, fatherless children, puppy dogs, and girls with freckles. LOL
911 the biggest waste of money... All it does is give employment to bunch of bums..
Can they collect taxes on internet voice calls? That might be pretty hard to do. Some states require people to report and pay taxes on anything they buy through mail order—but how many people do?
Exactly! ;-)
>>Can they collect taxes on internet voice calls?
Questionable at best. That’s why I use Skype. Just make sure the other person on the other line has Skype too. One of my best buddies from college works in the Philippines for Dell IT and my sister in Hong Kong uses it too. Now with the advent of Magic Jack, I talk to both of them for as long as i can without any charges.
How about the maroons who call 911 because they didn’t get any tater tots with their hamburger?
But then they can create an entirely new bureaucracy to monitor VOIP phone calls and claim they have created more jobs. And just think...they'll have to be able to track everyone's internet access to make sure nothing is slipping through the cracks. Dems never miss an opportunity to reduce freedom, after all...and if they get to tax on top of it...well, they must be thrilled to peeing their pantsuits.
And the unemployed whales and widows and paraplegic tennis players.
yah...Clark County tried to float a plan to replace their old analog 911 system with a digital one, and it was going to cost tens of millions to buy all of the equipment they wanted.
So does this now mean the County can just raise taxes to pay for the system, or does it still have to go to the voters first??
To be honest, I don't know if the county can unilaterally raise taxes...I suspect they can, if they're willing to face the consequences. But this tax is at the state level...so maybe this is an effort to shift some county upgrades onto the state population in general.
My real concern here is that under the guise of improving 911 equipment they are setting a precedent to tax the internet. This is the camel sticking it's nose under the edge of the tent and it's obvious what follows.
How were the previous 911 charges paid for? Obviously through some type of tax. Thus, you may have double taxation for the same thing.
Plus you know good and well the tax money is NEVER sent directly back to what ever it was for. Just like Social Security that has already been spent. When it should not been touched. I am so sick of these crooks making B.S. excuses to tax us to death.
Oh yes, and them...
Interesting point, but I'm sure that won't bother democrats...they'd tax it three or four times if they could.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.