Crazy Idea 325 – A Tax On Email?

Rail, Maritime and Transport Union leader Bob Crow has garnered a wave of criticism from the internet community after announcing his personal belief on how Britain’s huge budget deficit could be reduced.

The man thought to have played a part in the on and off rail network strikes we have seen over the last few years – who himself recieved a 12% pay rise last year, taking his ‘basic’ salary to £95,000 per year – suggested that the key to lowering the deficit was, not to cut jobs, but place a tax on email.

Appearing on popular channel 4 show ’10 O’clock live’ , he said “If groups of workers are under attack, we believe we should coordinate and stand firm – propose a tax of 1p per email, and get rid of Trident.” The audience reportedly booed his idea, and it has got a ‘boo’ from me too, email is a free, modern way of communicating with someone easily, putting a tax on it would be a huge shame, and impractical.

Unfortunately, 90% of all email sent is spam, so a majority of the emails would more than likely ignore the tax, meaning only legitimate online businesses who send many emails, would be effected by the tax, therefore not making much of a dent on the deficit, and damaging small online businesses, maybe even taking Britain back in time as many may try to avoid going online due to this.

Hopefully, however, Bob Crow will never get his way and email will remain a free service for everyone to enjoy, and the age of SEO and ecommerce will long continue.