A new tax on e-mail ?

[Andre' Kesteloot]

> >>Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 14:11:06 +0300
> >>To: Stomcc@aol.com
> >>From: John Pack <pack@aegeancenter.org>
> >>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> >>
> >>Dear Internet Subscriber:
> >>Please read the following carefully if you intend to stay
> >>online and continue using email:
> >>
> >>The last few months have revealed an alarming trend in the
> >>Government of the United States attempting to quietly push through
> >>legislation that will affect your use of the Internet. Under proposed
> >>legislation
> >>the U.S. Postal Service will be attempting to bilk email users out of
> >>"alternate postage fees."  Bill 602P will permit the Federal Govt to
> charge
> >>a 5
> >>cent surcharge on every email delivered, by billing Internet Service
> >>Providers at source.  The consumer would then be billed in turn by the
> ISP.
> >>Washington D.C. lawyer Richard Stepp is working without pay to prevent
> this
> >>legislation  from becoming law. The U.S. Postal Service is claiming that
> >>lost revenue due to the proliferation of email is costing nearly
> >>$230,000,000 in revenue per year.  You may have noticed their recent ad
> >>campaign "There is
> >>nothing like a letter". Since the average citizen received about 10 pieces
> >>of email per day in 1998, the cost to the typical individual would be an
> >>additional 50 cents per day, or over $180 dollars per year, above and
> >>beyond their regular Internet costs. Note that this would be money paid
> >>directly to the U.S. Postal Service for a service they do not even
> provide.
> >>
> >>The whole point of the Internet is democracy and non-interference. If the
> >>federal government is permitted to tamper with our liberties
> >>by adding a surcharge to email, who knows where it will end. You are
> >>already paying an exorbitant price for snail mail because of bureaucratic
> >>efficiency. It currently takes up to 6 days for a letter to be delivered
> >>from New York to Buffalo. If the U.S. Postal Service is allowed to tinker
> >>with email, it will mark the end of the "free" Internet in the United
> >>States. One congressman, Tony Schnell has even suggested a "$24.00 per
> >>month surcharge on all Internet service" above and beyond the government's
> >>proposed email charges.  Note that most of the major newspapers have
> >>ignored the story, the only exception being the Washingtonian which called
> >>the
> >>idea of email surcharge "a useful concept who's time has come," (March 6th
> >>1999 Editorial).
> >>
> >>Don't sit by and watch your freedoms erode away!  Send this email to all
> >>Americans on your list and tell your friends and relatives to write to
> >>their congressman and say "No!" to Bill 602P.
> >>
> >>Kate Turner
> >>Assistant to Richard Stepp,
> >>Berger, Stepp and Gorman Attorneys at Law
> >>216 Concorde Street, Vienna, Va.
>