Opposition to the 50p per
month levy, that was due to be paid on all connected telephone lines this
Autumn, appears to have caused it to be scrapped in the rush to get legislation
through the House of Commons prior to Parliament being dissolved next week.
The levy or tax as many prefer to call it, was intended to form the
cornerstone of Labour’s Next Generation Broadband project, raising around £1.5
billion between 2010 and 2017 which would extend broadband at speeds of 25Mbps
and faster from around the expected 60% coverage to 90% coverage. The scrapping
of the levy throws the plan into confusion, though of course there is nothing
stopping a re-elected Labour Government from re-instating it.
The levy was not linked to the Universal Service Commitment (USC), which has
around £200 million of funding available to it already, which is surplus from
the digital switchover fund. The USC is meant to get 2Mbps broadband to
virtually everyone by 2012. This task has support from the three main parties
so is unlikely to change.
The reason for the dropping of the tax along with two other taxes in the
Finance Bill was to ensure the bill would get passed prior to the breakup of
Parliament. With the debates ongoing with regard to the Digital Economy Bill
this means that clauses from the bill may still get dropped to squeeze the bill
through at the last minute.
The position of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats with regards to
broadband is outlined in an earlier thinkbroadband news article. The Conservatives
favour waiting until 2012 to make any firm decision, and they may at that point
intervene with a view to encouraging further commercial roll-out to meet a
‘100Mbps to the majority’ by 2017. The Liberal Democrats backed the 50p tax,
but wanted to ensure it had appropriate exemptions for social tariffs etc and
aim for 40Mbps to the vast majority by 2017.
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This dropping of clauses from bills, usually ones that do not have a consensus across parties is normal in the rush to finish off business.
Many would be happy if certain clauses were dropped.
Should drop the whole thing until the next government is elected.
The levy is part of the Finance Bill, NOT the DEB
Sadly when it comes to the DEB things are far less certain. Photographers have campaigned hard whereas the likes of the BBC have lobbied in favour. If this bill is passed then opposition parties can blame labour without getting their hands dirty.
Too many stealth taxes already without another one, and why should those who don’t have broadband be made to pay?
And in my opinion BT already charge too much as it is, line rental a payment processing fee ,=rip off
remember when I said the 50p tax was a deliberate distraction in the bill? to distract from the real evil as in the copyright protection measures? makes sense this got scrapped as its done its job.