Last week we passed along outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown’s warning about the coming taxing and spending spree in store for Californians once the super-leftist supermajority takes its seats in the legislature. (Details
here.)
Evidently the permanent bureaucracy was so inspired by the prospect of a totally leftist government it decided to get to taxing even before the elected taxers were sworn into office.
Demonstrating it lacks self-awareness, common sense, and historical perspective the unelected bureaucrat taxers on the California Public Utilities Commission almost made a hyperbolic conservative warning come true.
For decades, the right has claimed if leftists could discover a means they might put a tax on breathing. So far breathing is still free, but the PUC proposal to tax text messages comes perilously close.
Evidently the ignoramuses on the commission are completely unaware their text tax proposal is the modern equivalent of one of the causes of the American Revolution.
In 1765 the crown imposed the Stamp Act on the American colonies. This tax required colonists to pay a tax on every piece of paper they used, if it had print on it. The British even proved rapacious taxation by bureaucrats isn’t a modern invention. They slapped a fee on “Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications and even playing cards were taxed,” no less an authority than History.org informs us.
The PUC text tax is the Stamp Act updated, only this time Californian’s won’t get any sympathy from the rest of America because their votes keep these leftists in office.
The ostensible reason for the money grab is the topic du jour in the formerly Golden State: The homeless. AP tells us, “California regulators are considering a plan to charge a fee for text messaging on mobile phones to help support programs that make phone service accessible to the poor.”
Our suggestion to the commission would be to get out of the bubble more often. The last time one of the co-authors served a meal to the homeless the discussion was not how to get a phone or even pay for phone service, since everyone was sporting a cellphone. The problem was where to charge the phone since their spontaneous lifestyle doesn’t feature regular access to electrical outlets.
Fortunately for over-taxed Californians, bureaucratic infighting has spared them this new taxing indignity. KFSN-TV discovered the Federal Communications Commission forbids the imposition of the text tax. “The Federal Communications Commission ruled text messages are an 'information service, not a telecommunications service.'”
So that is some very welcome news to ring out the new year.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker’s bureau. Read more reports from Michael Reagan — Go Here Now.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)." Read more of Michael Shannon's reports — Go Here Now.