“The answer to all your problems!” “You have never seen anything like this!” “Lose 100 pounds in seven minutes!” “Congratulations, you just won 17 million dollars!” Any American with an e-mail account has inevitably become fed up with the endless number of messages such as these (pathetically labeled “spam”) that are sent to his/her account everyday. For those who do not know the lingo, spam stands for the unsolicited e-mail sent by businesses in an attempt to sell their products. Our government knows the spam lingo and has heard Americans’ complaints.
In October, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed an anti-spam measure which set up a “Do Not Email” registry, much like the Do Not Call registries. Theoretically, this registry would stop all spam to an e-mail account when the user filled out a simple form. The bill also fines businesses up to $2 million dollars that attempt to send junk e-mails. Still, many remain skeptical.
Although new government regulations are already in place in some states, spam is becoming a bigger problem nonetheless. Studies estimate that more than half of the e-mail people receive is spam, and the number is growing everyday. Software filters have proved to be no match for the powerhouse of unwanted spam.
Everyone agrees that something must be done about spam’s takeover of our internet-surfing lives. Many thoughtful, creative solutions have been proposed, but one proposition stands out as the most ridiculous, least thought-out, anti-taxpayer solution. Not surprisingly, this sad solution was proposed by Minnesota Senator Mark Dayton. Sen. Dayton has decided that the best way to stop spam is to place a tax on every e-mail sent by anyone.
Dayton believes that congressmen and women need to consider “a minuscule tax” on e-mail. On Nov.19, the Star Tribune quoted Dayton as saying, “It’s difficult to prevent the use of spam when there’s no cost associated with sending thousands, tens of thousands, or millions of e-mails.”
Many problems our government faces are difficult and the easiest way to solve any of these problems is to raise taxes, thus making the taxpayers solve the problem instead of the legislators they elected. While the tax may only amount to pennies or fractions of pennies per e-mail, it penalizes those who take advantage of free e-mail accounts from Yahoo! or Hotmail to e-mail friends, family, teachers, or even government officials.
Perhaps Sen. Dayton is hoping that if his e-mail tax plan becomes a reality, which is very unlikely, citizens will not want to waste their money e-mailing their displeasures to him.
Most e-mailers might be able to spare a few extra bucks for e-mail, but how long will it be before it’s more than just a few extra bucks? A spokesman for Virginia Sen. George Allen believes that taxing emails would be counterproductive – harmful to small businesses and individuals. Americans for Tax Reform’s President Grover Norquist also thinks the government shouldn’t tax or regulate e-mails. Mark Dayton, however, is still considering his absurd tax plan, and may bring it before Congress.
If by some stroke of luck it passes, e-mail will never be free again. The tax will start off low, but if spam doesn’t decline – then what happens? The government would be faced with another problem and would likely try to solve it as they did before, by raising the tax on e-mail. Soon it could cost more to send an e-mail than to send a letter.
The Star Tribune ends its article about Dayton’s plan with a quote from the Senator: “You can’t say, ‘We want it (e-mail) to be totally free and unrestricted’ and on the other hand ‘We want it to work smoothly and civilly.’” Yes, we can say that, Sen. Dayton. E-mail can be free, unrestricted, and efficient.
Hopefully someone will come forward with an idea to stop spam without hurting those of us who use and enjoy free e-mail. If no one comes up with such a plan, the nightmare solution proposed by Sen. Dayton could become a reality.
Sen. Dayton does not realize that the voters elected him to the Senate so he could fight for their concerns and work to solve the problems facing them. If he continues to come up with ideas that make taxpayers solve the problems with their own money, those same Minnesota voters/taxpayers are going to elect someone who will fight for them through different means.
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