Message-ID: <19981206030652.AAA4418@LOCALNAME> Date: Sat, 5 Dec 1998 23:04:29 -0400 From: Kerry Miller <mailto:kerryo@NS.SYMPATICO.CA> Subject: Re: Tobin/net tax To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
Bob,
> > 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;
>
> By the time it gets passed through, your checking and savings account
> charges would double or tripple. Do you really believe the tax will be
> paid out of the financial industries bottom line?
>
The game isn't to get something for nothing, and never was. It's to put the quo where it hurts the least in comparison to the benefit of the quid. Governmentally speaking, putting even .5% of GNP into foreign aid hurts excruciatingly, while direct investment is going great guns. (On top of that, we're even beginning to question the value of GNP as an indicator itself.)Why? Because the concept of government is being taken over by the concept of economics. Development, unless otherwise specified, is _economic development_, which is what FDI is all about. But this approach is not going to 'invest' in social or environmental issues until the rate of return warrants it.
So sure, they'll pass the tax along, and make it sound like a great thing theyre doing, too, while they're at it, and that's fine and dandy. At least it keepts the idea alive that theres more to the world than being either a bean counter or a been-counted.
> > 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?)
>
> If the sender had to pay the tax, it might cut down on some of the self
> aggrandisement posting... If sender and receiver had to pay you wouldn't
> be able to give internet accounts away. That's why there are laws against
> junk voice mail calls to cellular phones, because the receiver has to pay
> for something they didn't solicit.
On the social development agenda, I'd put consciousness raising at the top of the list. Specifically, that no one is exclusively a 'receiver' (aka consumer). Get out there, send a few messages, and contribute your penny! (I was just reading where more people pay *local phone rates that are higher than their LD bill than vice versa, and didnt even know it. If we can do that, we can pay for email: $25 would cover 2.5Meg traffic/ mo or 80K/day -- do you do more than that? (Count text only, please!)
> > 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.
>
> You think prices are high now?
Price has nothing to do with it - only _equity_. Put in the flat tax and see what the numbers are, but the next sound you'll hear is the complaint that Bigbi Zinc is not paying its fair share. So design the progressive rate into the scheme, don't be shy.
>
> Signs of the Times:
>
> Monthly Bake Sale and Car Wash sponsored by Mrs. Jones 5th Grade Class to
> pay Internet tax bill.
>
... > Oh dear, I've become what I detest, long winded, rambling, and pompous!
> Come on Y2K!
Yeah, about then is when your headline will come to pass, in any case.
kerry