| There is one aspect of a Broadband Tax... You guys are not identifying:
It will also serve as another form of Corporate Welfare.
How? No, I am not on the glue bag again. 
A tax like this is collected monthly but paid by the Telcos and providers quarterly. So the collected taxes sit in accounts. Just like your payroll taxes.
As it sits in those accounts, many of them are interest-accruing, using all sorts of financial instruments. The favorite is Certificates of Deposit. That money is rolling over, accruing interest that goes to the the initial collecting entity(in this case, the telcos and providers), so it becomes a new revenue stream for them. When you consider the amounts we are talking about here, this is not trivial.
It would be an interesting exercise to take a look at which congresscritters are either advocating for a BB tax or are openly dragging their feet on anyt bill that will preclude such a tax and compare with their ELEC statements and Telco and Provider campaign contributions.
Having worked on two congressional campaigns as a research wonk and webmaster, I have learned that ELEC reports can be a delightful source of information on congresscritter motivations. |
