[Heathkit] E-Mail tax, get ready!

[Andreawinward@aol.com]

Think this can't happen? Do yourself a favor, the next time you work DX, ask the foreign operator if they have an e-mail or Internet tax, many countries, especially Europe and Australia already have had such a tax in place for years. As far as figuring out the amounts and collecting the tax goes, the telephone companies have been sharing revenues for decades. 

All of the RBOC's have what is known as "The Division of Revenue Department". Their sole function is to figure out who (which companies) get what (how much) from every long distance call that goes through their territory and not just the originating and termination points. This happens millions of times each day, it may only be pennies per call, but due to the volume, it adds up.

With the above in mind, it would be a relatively easy project (albeit a huge undertaking) for the telephone companies to modify their network software to capture this information and generate a check (Division of Revenue) for this service. Of course the telephone companies would charge for this but all of a sudden, they have a new source of revenue. In this scenario, they win, we lose.

Don't think that it cannot be done, it can. If you don't believe it, just sit back and do nothing.

John, K3AOT  retired AT&T