"FEES" HIDDEN IN BUDGET WILL COST YOU $$$$!!

[Richard Bisbey II <bisbey () loretta la ca us>]

[Excerpted without permission from The San Jose Herald.]

BY ROBERT DOBSON
Herald Washington Bureau

     WASHINGTON - The Senate moved toward approving its version of
President's Clinton's budget package early this morning, a move
that is expected to set the stage for a showdown over "hidden
taxes" and spending in a House-Senate conference committee. At
which time, conservatives in the senate say they will fight efforts
to increase taxes and spending which they say is hidden in the
legislation. Singled out was $60 million to be used to finance the
National Data Network that Vice-President Gore is a supporter of.
     The $60 million is to be raised by the imposition of a tax on
the manufacturers of telecommunications hardware and by fees on the
users of such equipment, known as modems. "We used the Pittman-
Robertson act, which finances conservation efforts through a tax on
firearms and ammunition, as a model," said Congressional
spokesperson Bonnie Houck. "The people purchasing and using this type
of equipment are affluent and well off. It's fair, it's not taxation,
this is a progressive measure that asks the users of a resource to
pay for the costs of that resource."

[deleted]

     Clinton Administration spokesperson J. R. Dobbs cautioned
against calling the fees a tax; "Inaccurate buzz words like `modem
fees' and allusions to `modem taxes' produce knee-jerk reactions
that short-circuit constructive inquiry into a vital public issue.
Telecommunications users from all sectors - educators, small
business, local governments, public service entities. liraries and
recreational users - should take strong interest in how the next
generation of telecommunications networks will be developed and
financed.
     The newly authorized user fees are concealed in an obscure
line item (Docket 37-42 of the Data Communications Network
Architecture, or DCNA proposal), "the implications of which NO ONE
at this time fully understands," according to noted MIT
communications policy expert James Parry. These changes would
require telecommunications users to pay "usage sensitive" carrier
charges.

[deleted]

     Roger Carasso is a special assistant to the chief of the
Common Carrier Bureau at the FCC. He said it made sense that
someone using a 14,400 bps modem pay more than someone using a 2400
bps modem. He also commented that it was good policy to have the
fees collected by modem manufacturers and the regional Bell
operating companies (RBOC's). "That way the users don't see the
government involved in the same old `tax and spend'. In this case
the users can take pride in the fact that they are, in fact,
directly financing the new `data superhighway' while, at the same
time, freeing up scarce government resources for truly necessary
social programs such as Medicare, food stamps and education."

[rest of article deleted]

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