UK to pay Tax on Broadband

[Mark]

This is joke, right?

Google could be be hit with an online advertising tax to boost the coffers of the BBC, under proposals being discussed by the Government.

Ministers are considering taxing search engines, download websites and broadband providers to fund public service TV and the roll-out of broadband.

It could mean tax bills of more than £ 100million, which in turn may force firms to start charging for emailing, internet searches and social networking, which are used by millions of Britons every day.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ministers.html

It'll never happen.

[Mark CP]

let’s face it, if it's the usual Daily Mail style of reporting it'll be one big attention grabbing story which gets middle Britain’s blood boiling then nothing, I think the last line say's a lot
" A spokesman for the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform said: 'There are no plans to impose new taxes.'"

Nothing like a bit of scare mongering in the media...

[Mark]

BBC NEWS | Technology | Experts question UK broadband tax

One of the biggest surprises in the Digital Britain report was the news that everyone with a fixed line telephone would pay a broadband tax.

[matt.chatterley]

Gordon Brown's government, introducing new taxes? Never!

Aren't phone lines, broadband etc already VATted, though? So wouldn't that be going down the road of the petrol situation?

Also ref the BBC article, "At 50p, it's hardly likely to break the bank.." - fine - but it's harder to introduce a new tax than it is to amend an existing one!

On the other hand, if it would mean the infrastructure of the country getting some of the upgrades it so badly needs, perhaps it would have a positive impact.

[AdamW]

What frustrates me about this is that although our infrastructure desperately needs upgrading I don't see why we should pay for it now, when in the years to come and we want to use the new infrastructure we will have to pay the companies that are going to benefit from our phone tax.

[matt.chatterley]

Originally Posted by AdamW

What frustrates me about this is that although our infrastructure desperately needs upgrading I don't see why we should pay for it now, when in the years to come and we want to use the new infrastructure we will have to pay the companies that are going to benefit from our phone tax.

Good point.

Cos bills are sure to go up when "higher speed" service (for example) is available.. so basically we end up paying four times for everything - that sounds about right for the current administration, though.

[Paul Norman]

Originally Posted by Mark CP

let’s face it, if it's the usual Daily Mail style of reporting it'll be one big attention grabbing story which gets middle Britain’s blood boiling then nothing, I think the last line say's a lot
\" A spokesman for the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform said: 'There are no plans to impose new taxes.'\"

Nothing like a bit of scare mongering in the media...

Until I read the government denial, I thought it might be scaremongering. Now I know it must be real