In the 2009 stimulus bill, Congress allocated $2.5 billion to the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) to fund its Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP), all of which was supposed to be spent by the end of June 2015. This was a massive influx of money for a small agency whose previous annual average budget for broadband programs was approximately $290 million in direct loans and grants.
The IP Transition Is Coming
An innovative and ever changing communications landscape benefits everyone. This is one of the reasons the IP transition is an important component to the future of communications. While the evolution of the transition from copper to fiber may not necessarily be on everyone’s radar screen, how this transition is managed will have ramifications for years […]
Big Government Threatens Internet Independence
Americans will celebrate their freedom from tyranny on July 4. Unfortunately, these freedoms are rapidly eroding due to an increasing amount of government regulation and intervention into everyone’s daily lives.
The Unfair “Fairness” Act
It is disingenuous to call something fair and equitable when it is clearly not. This is the case with both S. 698, the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2015 (MFA), and the Remote Transaction Parity Act (RTPA), introduced on June 15, 2015 by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah). Both bills purport to bring “equity” between the taxation […]
Taxing the Digital Age
Imagine someone sitting at the airport terminal in Seattle, Washington, waiting for a flight home to Ohio. Boredom has set in, as she waits for her flight to board, and she wants something to do. So she scans through the app store on her mobile device, finds a game that happens to be located on a server in Utah and purchases it. When she is back in Ohio and opens up her mobile billing statement, she could find a sales tax remittance for not just her home state of Ohio, but also from Utah and Washington. In fact, if the company that developed the app was based in yet another state that taxes digital goods, she could potentially be subject to up to four separate taxes on a single purchase.
Tossing a Broken Lifeline to Subsidize Broadband
In 2014, approximately $8.5 billion was collected in Universal Service Fund (USF) fees from consumers as a tax on their communications services. The four main USF programs are the Low-Income support services, which includes the Lifeline and Link-Up programs; the High-Cost program; the E-Rate Library and Schools program; and the Rural Health program. While there are many questions and concerns about all of these programs, the Lifeline program, which was established in 1985 to provide subsidized telephone services to low-income households, has perhaps the most sordid history of waste, fraud and abuse.
Finish Fixing Lifeline, Before Considering Expanding
In 2014, the Universal Service Fund (USF) collected approximately $8.5 billion to support telecommunications programs that include the Low Income support services, Lifeline and Link-Up programs; the High-Cost program; the Library and Schools program; and the Rural Health program. The funding for the USF is found in the charges on consumer’s communications bills as a […]
The Need for More Spectrum Auctions
A May 11, 2015 report from the Brattle Group estimates the value of the 645.5 MHz of licensed spectrum currently in use at almost $500 billion. Beyond the monetary value of this spectrum are the services provided to consumers using licensed spectrum through their mobile devices. According to the report, economists have estimated that the […]
Focusing on Music Copyright for World IP Day
On April 26, 2015, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) marked World Intellectual Property Day. The theme was “Get Up, Stand Up. For Music,” which was intended to highlight the contributions of musical artists around the world and encourage the protection of their intellectual property (IP). Artists and musicians combat piracy and copyright infringement on a daily basis, while they also struggle to be adequately compensated for their work.
Providing Relief from Internet Taxes
On July 15, 2014, the House of Representatives passed the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act, which would have made the moratorium on taxes for Internet access permanent. Unfortunately, because of legislative wrangling in the Senate, the bill failed to become law.