Darling Taxes the Internet

[robbieduncan]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8403273.stm

UK Chancellor introduces a £6 a year tax on all UK homes with a phone line. All I can say is I will be voting for anyone else.

 

[stridemat]

I have cable broadband, but not a fixed line telephone line. Look like I won't be paying the tax. SHAME!

 

[robbieduncan]

I have cable broadband, but not a fixed line telephone line. Look like I won't be paying the tax. SHAME!

Lucky you. I hate the fact that to get ADSL you have to have a phoneline. I'd be happy with mobile only (and cable in my area is not worth having)

 

[yg17]

Just out of curiosity, if a provider advertises service as £20/month, is your final bill at the end of the month (assuming you didn't make any toll calls or whatever) actually £20/month, or is it more? Because in the US, if it's advertised as $20/month, it will actually be more because of taxes and fees, and in that case, I don't feel too sorry for you

 

[robbieduncan]

Just out of curiosity, if a provider advertises service as £20/month, is your final bill at the end of the month (assuming you didn't make any toll calls or whatever) actually £20/month, or is it more? Because in the US, if it's advertised as $20/month, it will actually be more because of taxes and fees, and in that case, I don't feel too sorry for you

It should be including taxes. As we don't have different states charging different rates of tax the norm in the UK (and the rest of Europe) is to advertise the price actually charged. So if you are in the supermarket and it says a bag of crisps is 45p you pay 45p.

 

[Bennieboy©]

lmao, sunshine can go whistle, this is bloody ridiculous, betting pot being opened on when he introduces a tax for farting and going to the loo

 

[stridemat]

Lucky you. I hate the fact that to get ADSL you have to have a phoneline. I'd be happy with mobile only (and cable in my area is not worth having)

Exactly what I do, I use my iPhone for all calls. I see as Im already paying for that I might as well use all the minuets.

I feel sorry for my parents, they use ADSL broadband back home, and don't really need the internet, use it rarely. They are being charged an extra tax to fund the next generation of internet. They live miles from anywhere in a small village that will never get a next generation connection.

 

[pukifloyd]

Just out of curiosity, if a provider advertises service as £20/month, is your final bill at the end of the month (assuming you didn't make any toll calls or whatever) actually £20/month, or is it more? Because in the US, if it's advertised as $20/month, it will actually be more because of taxes and fees, and in that case, I don't feel too sorry for you

just $20?!!
i pay $50 for 7mbps

 

[iBookG4user]

just $20?!!
i pay $50 for 7mbps

£20 is different than $20...

 

[r.j.s]

just $20?!!
i pay $50 for 7mbps

£20 is different than $20...

I'm sure yg17 used the same numbers to keep it simple, not to actually compare.

 

[Consultant]

£20 is different than $20...

It's weird, but the cost of living in UK is sort of like £1 = $1
people there get paid more, but things also cost more.

 

[748s]

Lucky you. I hate the fact that to get ADSL you have to have a phoneline. I'd be happy with mobile only (and cable in my area is not worth having)

You haven't got naked DSL?

Is that tax on active phone lines or all phone lines?

 

[robbieduncan]

You haven't got naked DSL?

If you have a phoneline (for the DSL to come in over) then I think you might get taxed even if you don't have phone service on that line. Having said that all the DSL I've seen here requires that you either have a BT line (meaning a phone line) or if it's LLU then you have to take phone service from the company unbundling you.

 

[748s]

If you have a phoneline (for the DSL to come in over) then I think you might get taxed even if you don't have phone service on that line. Having said that all the DSL I've seen here requires that you either have a BT line (meaning a phone line) or if it's LLU then you have to take phone service from the company unbundling you.

Bummer

 

[VoR]

They are being charged an extra tax to fund the next generation of internet.

haha, very funny....
(no they're not)

 

[stridemat]

How are they not being charged an extra tax for something they neither want nor need?

 

[dejo]

Darling Taxes the Internet

Aw, isn't that cute!

Wait... what?... Darling is his name? Oh...

 

[robbieduncan]

Aw, isn't that cute!

Wait... what?... Darling is his name? Oh...

Yes, it's all very Blackadder really. And he has comedy eyebrows.

 

[Eraserhead]

Just out of curiosity, if a provider advertises service as £20/month, is your final bill at the end of the month (assuming you didn't make any toll calls or whatever) actually £20/month, or is it more? Because in the US, if it's advertised as $20/month, it will actually be more because of taxes and fees, and in that case, I don't feel too sorry for you

£20/month means you pay £20/month with no extra charges/fees/whatever. So that is equivalent to $32.50/month.

 

[yg17]

£20/month means you pay £20/month with no extra charges/fees/whatever. So that is equivalent to $32.50/month.

So it sounds like it'll become like the states, where $32.50 might actually mean $36.29 or something like that.

 

[Mac Kiwi]

I bet they see £6 as a starting point as well.

 

[robbieduncan]

I bet they see £6 as a starting point as well.

Well it gets better: they (the Government) have made it clear that they intend this to be applied to any telecoms connection terminating in a home even if that connection is not used for phone service. So if you have a second BT line as a dedicated fax line (someone must still have this) then you'll pay £12 a month. Or if you have cable TV but no phone service on that you still pay £6.

I fully expect this to rise at way above the cost of inflation when they realise that the expected £1Bn over 7 years is pissing in the wind (they say right now they expect it to last 7 years: expect to hear every excuse under the sun for not scrapping it). I can's see how they can cable up the rural areas of the country for that...

 

[iBlue]

"Welcome to Britain! There's a tax for that!"

 

[mooblie]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8403273.stm

UK Chancellor introduces a £6 a year tax on all UK homes with a phone line. All I can say is I will be voting for anyone else.

OK, I'm guessing you live in London, with a reasonable broadband service? What if you lived in a rural area with less than 1Mbps available to you?

Is this any different from the NHS, or the State Pension, or Council Tax?

 

[OllyW]

OK, I'm guessing you live in London, with a reasonable broadband service? What if you lived in a rural area with less than 1Mbps available to you?

Is this any different from the NHS, or the State Pension, or Council Tax?

The broadband service in rural areas is very poor which is why they are introducing this tax.

I live 2 miles inside the green belt in the West Midlands conurbation and have got a massive choice of internet options going up to 50 mbps. My brother lives in a large village which is only 3 miles the other side of the green belt and he is stuck with a crappy 1 mbps connection.

A lot people who live deep in the country side have no broadband options at all so if this tax is used as intended, 50p per month isn't a big price to pay.