The people of California might not be typing OMG after they hear the news, but texting might soon come with an extra added fee on people’s cell phone bills. The regulators of states are weighed in a tax on text messaging which would help in funding a program which in turn will make the service of the phone come to the residents who have low-income.
The budget of Public Purpose Program will be able to sustain via texting surcharge as it has reportedly risen to $998 million last year from a total of $670 million back in the year 2011, based on the report that comes from the California Public Utilities Commission.
Revenue which originates from the telecom industry which has reportedly funded the program witnessed a decline of $11.3 billion as of last year. The reports from California Public Utilities Commission stated the back in 2011, the revenue of the telecom industry was $16.5 billion.
In the findings, the CPUC has stated that the Parties which supports the collection of such surcharges on revenue of text messaging have argued that this will help in preserving and advancing the universal service by merely increasing the rate of revenue upon which the Public Purpose Program heavily rely.
The agency also said that they are going to place a vote on this issue by Thursday. However, the business groups, as well as the wireless industries, are currently fighting this proposal, which once implemented is likely going to show up as a small flat surcharge in small bills which are printed instead a charging a considerable amount of fee per SMS.
Jim Wunderman, Bay Area Council president, has called the idea a dumb plan. And said that this is exactly how the conversations take place in this era and this suggests that regulators are suggesting the there must be taxes based on the interviews that people have these days.
Source: cbsnews
