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Dumb, Desperate or Good Idea? Calif. Councilman Proposes Email Tax to Keep Postal Service Funded

Mar. 8, 2013 2:55pm Becket Adams

A Berkeley, Calif., city councilman has suggested that an “email tax” might be required to keep United States Postal Service funded, CBS San Francisco reports, citing the blog Berkeleyside.

“District 8 Supervisor Gordon Wozniak,” the report notes, “made the comments Tuesday as city officials moved to halt the sale of a Post Office building on Allston Way due to a decline in business.”

“There should be something like a bit tax. I mean a bit tax could be a cent per-gigabit and they would still make, probably, billions of dollars a year,” Wozniak said. “And there should be, also, a very tiny tax on email.”

Aside from keeping the post office funded, an email tax would also discourage spam, Wozniak explains.

No, really.

Well, okay, maybe we should cut him some slack. After all, it’s not like it’s an entirely original idea: “…the idea was even studied by the United Nations in 1999 as a means of funding global communications infrastructure,” the report notes.

“The Postal Service, which suffered a $15.9 billion loss in the past budget year, announced plans last month to end regular Saturday mail delivery,” CBS explains.

“The delivery of letters and other mail has plummeted in recent years. Email has decreased the mailing of paper letters, but online purchases have increased package shipping, forcing the Postal Service to adjust to customers’ new habits,” the report adds.

However, it’s worth pointing out that, contrary what President Obama says, improvements in technology isn’t entirely responsible for USPS’ plummeting revenues.

“[M]uch of the service’s red ink comes from a 2006 law forcing it to pay $11 billion a year into future retiree health benefits, something no other agency does,” CBS notes. “Without that and related labor expenses, the mail agency sustained an operating loss of $2.4 billion last year, lower than the previous year.”

–

RELATED:

Great news: Berkeley has a plan to save the postal service

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Comments (184)

cosmic dogma
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:05pm
Yep, it’ll ( Taxation of internet ) happen. Don’t really care. I liked the old days when one had personal conversations. It was real, literally. Do I need to sit in front of the computer reading news of moronic, self righteous control freaks taking over the planet? No. Would be more productive doing almost anything else. Literally.

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homo3000
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 10:46pm
We should have to pay something right? I always feel bad when i check the box on my unemployment form that allows me to avoid paying taxes that week. So i think I should at least give some money. Even if it’s just a little bit. Most of these taxes are just a few bucks a month. It’s really not that much.

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gary kilmer
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 9:58pm
i can live without email

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Southernsoul
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 9:20pm
I agree. Not only that, but we also need an ice cube tax to help support the ice delivery guy, and a light bulb tax to help support candle makers.

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TouchStoneMT
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 9:06pm
That makes as much sense as taxing automobiles to subsidize horse carriages.
….or taxing phones to keep the telegraphs in business.

OldSarge’s First Law of Bureaucrapsy:
“If it makes sense – it’s Not Authorized.
If it wastes time, man-power, and money – it’s Policy.”

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RamonPreston
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 8:08pm
Leave email alone; raise postal rates if you can’t make ends meet. Or cut back like we taxpayers have to do. When the minimum wage of $9/hr hits I will be dumpster-diving behind McDonalds.

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- drs1969
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 10:42pm
  $9/hr is all the postal workers are worth, but they make around $25. They make that triple on holidays.
  
  Report this comment
jlightning1
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 8:01pm
You know the post office has past its useful life. At the post office in my town they had a drop off box located right on the side of the parking lot. It was great, just drive and drop and you were on your way. 2 years ago they decided to move it next to the front door so they ripped it out of the concrete and had to redo the side walk… sounds like a cheep move ! so now people were stopping near the front door and leaving their car running and walking up to the box to drop off there mail. So the postmaster decided to put 2 big signs saying NO STOPPING OR STANDING.. Hm sounds like he is going to force you to park in the tight parking lot and walk across to the box.. So I still stop by the front door and drop my mail. and I park right in front of the sign… He has been out 3 times now to yell at me for stopping there. I Just tell him to shove it in his Arsss..

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Salamander
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 7:52pm
Californians can’t even run their own state! Maybe they ought to hush it up a bit on the National scene!

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Salamander
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 7:48pm
This postal service has missed so many opportunites to make money! For example, they just cut Saturday deliveries! Too little, too late in my opinion! What they SHOULD have done is go to 3-day a week ‘free’ delivery! You get either Mon-Wed-Fri or Tue-Thu-Sat delivery without additional charge. If you want a different schedule or 5 or 6 day a week deliveries, you pay extra for it! This does not affect box services–only deliveries of non-premium mail. Rather than TAX email, why not OFFER it? What a NOVEL IDEA! How about a Reagan.com-like service (they ought to pay Reagan.com a royalty or offer to buy-out the founders). They could GUARANTEE the PRIVACY of email, provide ‘poison-pill’ for spam (to purge lists at the instigation of the unwilling recipient), and put some Federal Teeth in email abuses! They could charge $20-$40 a year for such services and set an example for the industry! Regular email, wild-West, internet style would still be available, but the Post Office version would add some meaninful features and protections! Same thing for internet service! Why not offer basic and minimally-enhanced internet access for a nominal fee, say $20-
$40 per month! This would NOT include email, home pages, all the crap the ISP’s throw at you that you never use (for cable-access of $160 a month or so, coupled with VOIP phone and cable-TV)? I don’t believe they should directly ‘compete’ with the cable industry, but maybe PBS belongs on PMS!

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PK_SEA
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 7:30pm
It’s called business evolution. The USPS is becoming irrelevant and thus, going down the tubes. Propping it up with a tax will just delay the inevitable.

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Cat_Ion
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 7:01pm
Say what you will about the Postal Service, but at this point in time, the letter you send to your son, your cousin Vinny or your lawyer through “snail mail”, is the ONLY form of communication the governments can’t snoop on. I say, let’s keep it alive.

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- sbs21078
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 7:20pm
  I agree and also if you need to post when the power has been out for days and/or weeks, it might not be an email you will be able to send. A person or business might wish they had Pony Express at the least as a Manual back-up.
  
  Report this comment
- Southernsoul
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 9:26pm
  I wouldn’t put too much faith into that belief.
  
  Report this comment
- Cat_Ion
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:40pm
  Well you would be wrong.
  Even with a warrant, when postal inspectors are watching someone’s mail, USPS can only photocopy the outside front of the mail piece for the postal inspectors, and not even that if it is from a court or a lawyer.
  
  Of course, if drugs or bombs or anthrax are involved its a different story.
  
  Report this comment
Locke
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 6:58pm
Wait, what?!? What lunacy is this? We already pay a fee and taxes on the internet and someone wants to essentially add additional taxes for email to subsidize another failed governmental service. Does this “rational” person even understand that in one shape or form you even pay for email service? Why is this even a thought? …..oh wait, I understand now. They’ve been in a hole doing hard core drugs the last 30 years… Here’s an idea fix the service. Better yet, oust the current “problem” (ie anyone holding federal office) and return control to the people. Make it so any person vying to hold federal office can’t have ever held a political office and in so doing fix the problem. At the least the budget would be balanced and our national debt would get paid off sooner than never.

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LameLiberals
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 6:46pm
PRIVATIZE the post office to an AMERICAN COMPANY ONLY -not sell to a foreign owned company.

If the price of a letter or box goes up for someone who lives in the boon docks – tough. No one should subsidize them.

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- Salamander
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 7:51pm
  Hey, China got The Canal, why not give them the Post Office too? Sheesh, you can’t fix STOOPID!
  
  Report this comment
LameLiberals
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 6:42pm
An EMAIL tax to support the post office has been around for years. The post office blames E-mail and bill pay for their loss of revenue from snail mail.

With the above logic, the blacksmith would be charging a automobile tax to keep themselves in business because cars replaced horses. But the blacksmiths didn’t have lobbyists to pay off politicians to push the tax and blacksmiths were government union workers – thank God or we would have that tax.

FEAR NOT Tax haters – for both RINOs and liberals will eventually have an INTERNET TAX because stores today DO HAVE LOBBYISTS to line politician campaign coffers. Brick and mortar stores and Governors WHINE they are losing sales tax to on-line stores when ALL a brick and motar store has to do is create an on-line store front also and sell on-line as well as in their brick and mortar store. But that is too easy a solution and politicians are looking for any way to pick taxpayer pockets.

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- LameLiberals
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 6:43pm
  TYPO….. blacksmiths were NOT government union workers – thank God or we would have that tax.
  
  Report this comment
- LameLiberals
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 6:44pm
  Amazon.com ACTIVELY PROMOTES the Internet Sales Tax. I refuse to buy from them any longer.
  
  Report this comment
thisismyname
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 6:32pm
F… the post office and F… the people who even think this is a legitimate idea!

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sbs21078
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 6:09pm
@ soul leister
I agree with smaller and as was told by you that Post Master should have seen that coming,
as was told to me by my Postwoman at the time, please don’t complain about third class mail because right now that is our bread & butter back in 1999.

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Soul Leister
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 6:04pm
its the classic survival scenario:

we are in a liferaft (there are ten of us… one is the post office and its not contributing but a fraction of its output decades ago)… who do we least need to support? The one that is contributing the least has got to go (or make due with less than the REAL producers)… because there is not enough to go around (evidenced by all the borrowing… no soup for them). Thank you for your service, now get your stuff and get out.

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sbs21078
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 5:54pm
Article 1 sec.8 , To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
This means they must be physical in nature and must be maintained according to our Constitution.
Other spending will have to reduced.

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- Soul Leister
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 5:59pm
  As I showed earlier, the post office delivers almost 200 fewer pieces of mail (not counting junk mail/advertising) per household than they did 20 years ago… from 200 to almost zero… they need to be smaller not maintained… they should have less government money not more, not one penny more.
  
  Report this comment
obxned
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 5:43pm
We must also tax car owners to help out the blacksmiths, buggy whip and harness makers, and all the others who failed to adapt to the new reality of their time. As lousy and painfully slow as the mail is, it is no wonder that we prefer e-mail. Other than Netflix, I can’t think of a reason to have a mailbox. And for sending or receiving packages, give me UPS or FedEx!

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- Soul Leister
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 5:48pm
  sad part is, now that UPS and FEDEX know how low the bar is their services will soon be in the crapper too.
  
  Report this comment
- Locke
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 7:00pm
  Oh look an example of a non-governmental business performing the same exact service that not only isn’t failing but is thriving and profitable. How’d that happen?
  
  Report this comment
joex51
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 5:35pm
Not Dumb but stupid, and unenforceable, how can they tax emails from all the companies that are there that have their own email server and how about people that have email hosted at a location out of their jurisdiction, have a fund raiser….

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- Soul Leister
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 5:40pm
  a fundraiser is a great idea.. I hear there is a kenyan and his wife that love fundraisers.
  
  Report this comment
Soul Leister
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 5:32pm
They have to scale back not keep spending money they don’t take in anymore. Look at all the people paying their bills on line… how stupid are their leaders to not have seen this coming for decades:

…mortgages paid online (12 monthy stamps not needed)
…mortgage statement online (12 stamps not needed)
…bank statements online (12 stamps not needed)
…how many different banks does the average person have (12 stamps not needed @)
…credit card statements online (12 stamps not needed)
…how many different credits cards do people average??
…credit card payments paid online (12 stamps not needed)
…electric bill
…water bill
…car loan
…electric paid online
…water paid online
…car loan paid online
…magazines and papers aren’t getting delivered anymore (online)
…etc etc

Clearly, they are doing a lot less work at the post office, they should have been letting people go decades ago.

The above is just the tip of the revenue iceburg the titanic lunatic management at the post office should have seen coming decades ago… not counting letters to family and friends etc well over 200 stamps per household per year vanished from their revenue (when you buy them one or two at a time you don’t realize how many you use)… WE NEED NOT COLLECT A SINGLE PENNY IN TAX FROM SOME OTHER SERVICE (internet use/providers) TO KEEP THE MORONS AT THE POST OFFICE IN BUSINESS…they clearly could not find their ass(ets) if they had both hands on it.

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- Soul Leister
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 5:34pm
  I completely forgot about christmas cards, birth announcements (thank you facebook?), etc…
  
  There is no way for a bit tax to make up what they are NO LONGER DOING… not a penny to those idiots.
  
  Report this comment
- Soul Leister
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 5:39pm
  I forgot the cable/satellite bill paid on line, etc… all that business went away… the post office needs to scale back… or are we also going to find a tax to collect money to pay people that no longer make wooden wagon wheels or bayonets (that last one was for Obama, who thought we no longer used bayonets… during the election he lectured Romney about us not using bayonets anymore.. he is another moron).
  
  Report this comment
- Soul Leister
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 5:43pm
  and there are all those store cards (sears, penny’s, belks, macy’s, etc) now paid online… the post office has been run by morons for some time now and their liberal friends (who they helped get elected with union dues and pensions) are no smarter than the boobs at the post office.
  
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- Soul Leister
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 5:47pm
  people used to mail resume’s… now those are done ONLINE… the post office deserves NONE OF THAT ACTION… they are a dinosaur that is dying and not smart enough to know its dying (but the politicians need their union dues and pension money for kickbacks and junkettes to far away places). There is a old proverb that goes like this, when you lay down with turds you will soon be covered in, well let’s just say its not shinola…
  
  Report this comment
Soul Leister
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 5:29pm
They have to scale back not keep spending money they don’t take in anymore. Look at all the people paying their bills on line… how stupid are their leaders to not have seen this coming for decades:

…mortgages paid online (12 monthy stamps not needed)
…mortgage statement online (12 stamps not needed)
…bank statements online (12 stamps not needed)
…how many different banks does the average person have (12 stamps not needed @)
…credit card statements online (12 stamps not needed)
…how many different credits cards do people average??
…credit card payments paid online (12 stamps not needed)
…electric bill
…water bill
…car loan
…electric paid online
…water paid online
…car loan paid online
…etc etc

above is just the tip of the revenue iceburg the titanic lunatic management at the post office should have seen coming decades ago… not counting letters to family and friends etc well over 200 stamps per household per year vanished from their revenue (when you buy them one or two at a time you don’t realize how many you use)… WE NEED NOT COLLECT A SINGLE PENNY IN TAX FROM SOME OTHER SERVICE (internet use/providers) TO KEEP THE MORONS AT THE POST OFFICE IN BUSINESS…they clearly could not find their ass(ets) if they had both hands on it…

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Soul Leister
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 5:16pm
Cul the herd… this rampant use of armed federal agents/agencies to rob citizens (at assault weapon gun point and fear of imprisonment) to TAKE their last couple dollars to give it to losers and incompetent boobs has to stop. Liberalism is only attractive so long as they have OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY TO TAKE AWAY FROM THEM. Well, at over 16 trillion in debt and rising there is no more money to take (and borrowing is not helping… you morons). Is it any wonder they want our guns now… they want to stop us from stopping them.

They clearly want a war, but they don’t want it while we still have guns… those treasonous individuals need to be introduced to an exit.

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sbs21078
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 5:12pm
No ” Bit ” tax and quit using & giving your constituants US Tax Business info to the UN.

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Budrow
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 5:07pm
I can assure you that the USPS DID NOT amass a sixteen billion dollar shortfall because they have been deprived of some forty-two cent postage stamp sales.

Like anything else the government has its hands in the shortfall is due to overspending and mis-management and poor decisions made by the powers that be. They must have learned their management skills from Congress. If they would clean up their act they could reduce their shortfall.

Email is a sign of the times and snail-mail is still needed but they have to get their schit together.

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- Soul Leister
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 5:29pm
  They have to scale back not keep spending money they don’t take in anymore. Look at all the people paying their bills on line… how stupid are their leaders to not have seen this coming for decades:
  
  …mortgages paid online (12 monthy stamps not needed)
  …mortgage statement online (12 stamps not needed)
  …bank statements online (12 stamps not needed)
  …how many different banks does the average person have (12 stamps not needed @)
  …credit card statements online (12 stamps not needed)
  …how many different credits cards do people average??
  …credit card payments paid online (12 stamps not needed)
  …electric bill
  …water bill
  …car loan
  …electric paid online
  …water paid online
  …car loan paid online
  …etc etc
  
  above is just the tip of the revenue iceburg the titanic lunatic management at the post office should have seen coming decades ago… not counting letters to family and friends etc well over 200 stamps per household per year vanished from their revenue (when you buy them one or two at a time you don’t realize how many you use)… WE NEED NOT COLLECT A SINGLE PENNY IN TAX FROM SOME OTHER SERVICE (internet use/providers) TO KEEP THE MORONS AT THE POST OFFICE IN BUSINESS…they clearly could not find their ass(ets) if they had both hands on it.
  
  Report this comment

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