In other tax news, the FCC is planning to institute a 9.1% tax hike on cable modem connections. The taxes will go to the Universal Service Fund, a fund originally designed to subsidize rural and library Internet connections, but is now used for a myriad of unrelated purposes and has been the source of much controversy over the way in which the fund is managed.
This is another example of the government taxing something for a set purpose then constantly finding excuses to take ever more money from taxpayers with little regard as to how it is used. The rural Republicans such as Ted Stevens and Conrad Burns who created the Universal Service Fund should stand behind the principles of responsible government and help kill this costly and unnecessary tax.
Another lesson you must have missed in Taxes 101. THe more government cuts taxes on those with the best ability to pay as we are doing on a near-montly basis, the more creative and extensive the government must become in its taxation policy to make up for the loss of revenue. Taxing cable is just the beginning. We can expect internet and e-mail taxes, sales taxes extended to cable, more of the never-ending sin taxes on tobacco to “offset” non-existent smoking-related health care treatment costs, new sin taxes on everything from coffee to Big Macs to Oreos to “offset Oreo-related health care treatment costs. New tax gimmicks are being dreamed up on a daily basis to make up for the loss of revenue that occurs when the wealthiest Americans get one round of giveaways after another as government spending continues to rise as it always will.
In the middle of the paragraph, I meant to say new sales taxes extended to clothing, not cable.
Except the funds from the Universal Service Fund don’t have anything to do with tax cuts – they have everything to do with a bloated, irresponsible, and constantly growing federal bureaucracy. If you’d rather not see the constant erosion of your wallet through a stream of needless taxation you’d be best served by switching to party that defends responsible government and economic freedom.
Financing national debt interest through increased taxation is a necessary obligation when faced with mounting debt, as the “party of fiscal responsibility” of a long-ago era is intent on doing. Given the GOP’s love affair with mortgaging the federal budget and funding gigantic defense spending boondoggles, the long-term taxation price tag is much heavier for belonging to the Republican party than it has been even under the most free-spending liberal Democrats that ever lived.