UK to be taxed for high speed internet?

[Fluoxetine]

Every Briton with a fixed-line phone will pay a "small levy" of 50p per month to pay for faster net access.
The national fund created by the levy will be used to ensure most Britons get access to future net technologies.
The proposal is part of the Digital Britain report outlined by Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw in Parliament.
The report also includes a pledge to curb unlawful file sharing by giving regulator Ofcom new powers to identify persistent pirates.

To encourage take-up of broadband services the government has appointed online entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox as a digital champion.
Mr Bradshaw told the Commons that the government intended to upgrade all national radio stations from analogue to digital by 2015.
It promised a "more robust" system of content classification for the video games industry.
The report, commissioned by the government last year and written by communications minister Lord Carter, offers a blueprint for the UK's digital future.
"Digital Britain is a statement of intent and ambition, a commitment to infrastructure and access, and an overdue recognition of the industrial importance of the creative industries," said Lord Carter.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8102756.stm


This is 50p per month. We have had fast access for nearly 10 years and now they want to tax us for using it?

[MonSno_LeeDra]

Sort of reminds me of the TV tax we paid while I was stationed in Scotland in the 80's. I just find it ironic that it took them this long to come up with it.

Usually it seems to me if thier is a dollar or pound in this instance to be made from it, they figure it out real fast.

[memnoch]

forget the tax, this line right here is what bothers me most


The report also includes a pledge to curb unlawful file sharing by giving regulator Ofcom new powers to identify persistent pirates.

[TygerTyger]

I can sympathise witht he intention behind the report to extend broadband to at least 90% of the country, but this is a banner headline behind which an awful lot of nothing appears to be hiding!

Personally, I am not interested in Brown's claims that;

"Britain is going to lead the world. This is us taking the next step into the future to being the digital capital of the world. It is making sure no family or business misses out"

It is giving him a flag to wave to defelct people's attention from more important questions! Besides, we've been down this path before, there's nothing but bragging rights in trying to consciously become 'world leaders', and that seldom appears anyway, what we want is what is right for Britain first, the world second.

Of course the report presumes an awful lot, there are many people who simply don't want the internet in their homes for a variety of reasons; are we to force them to have it?

If we're going to have alterations to the licence fee then I would like to see a greater accountability from the recipients to the tax payer too!