Message-ID: <19981205045241.AAC3700@LOCALNAME> Date: Sat, 5 Dec 1998 00:50:14 -0400 From: Kerry Miller <mailto:kerryo@NS.SYMPATICO.CA> Subject: Re: Market Supremacy Challenged by Political Reality To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
For years now, people have been advising an international tax on "hot money" transactions, with the proceeds going to economic development and environmental protection in LDCs -- since most assuredly those transactions are communicated electronically, why not mobilize the entire wired world for a flat tax on e- mail? a) all overhead costs of collection and distribution -- the real Tobin tax -- to be borne by the financial industry; b) $.01 per Kbyte on an interim basis could provide a baseline figure for not only total revenue flow, but also the social impact: who's going to whinge the most? (To whom?) c) this could progress to one dollar for commerce-to-commerce, 10 cents for NGO-to-NGO, with logrithmic subdivision for com-to-org, org-to-individual, etc. d) ICANN might outperform the rest of the world in percentage of revenues for foreign aid!
kerry
I'm afraid I'm losing my sig, Tom said blankly.