back to article Bloggers go ballistic over non-existent wireless tax

The UK is not in fact about to impose a tax on wireless networks, but that hasn't stopped bloggers jumping up and down about it. Rumours that the UK was about to introduce a tax on wireless networking set the blogosphere afire towards the end of last week, with opponents pointing out that a tax of £100 per access point would …

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  1. Nigel Callaghan

    'Rental value'

    All seems perfectly reasonable - and what is the likely rental value of a few square yards of roof space (even in a city centre) or 100 square yards of hilltop in the middle of a Welsh forest (you could BUY that for £100, never mind rent it). I don't think a few quid a year per mast on top of the thousands the actually gadgetry costs is going to break anyone!

  2. spencer
    WTF?

    Not going to break the bank.

    I happen to work in the Business rates Dept of a certain soho square based company of chartered surveyors.

    Let me assure you that an extra £100 pounds over the 5 year business rates period is not going to break anyone's bank.

    I wanted to go into more detail about the costs of masts, but the way they price up the floor space makes it hard to evaluate exactly how much money a mast on a commercial premise actually costs.

    But take a rate of £2,500 (roughly the going rate for a 'communication station' in london). £100 isn't even a 10% hike.

    The new rates have gone up by 10% or more for most of these stations (in london) anyway. So this new supplement is just an extra kick in the bollocks, albeit a very small one

  3. ShaggyDoggy

    Hell

    Is there anything left to tax in this country ?

  4. BristolBachelor Gold badge
    Jobs Horns

    Not so far beyond Oftel^H^H^Hcom

    I'm not sure that Ofcom wouldn´t try this anyway...

    They are forcing everyone to buy a set-top box so they can convert TV to digital only transmission. Before that is even complete, the specs have changed so the box you bought with the Digital logo meaning that it will work after the switch-over is now out of date, and you need a newer one to get all the channels.

    The space left after compressing all the channels to the point of being almost unwatchable will be sold to companies at high cost who will then charge the public high costs for their services to recoup the money.

    They are trying to do the same with radio (including with the same issue: the radio we told you to buy is now out of date; get a new one) Again the airwaves left over will be sold at tremendous cost to companies who will have to pass the costs on to their customers.

    All of the costs of this are bourne by the public. So the idea of Ofcom imposing a tax for people to use wireless technology - sounds like just the next step to me...

    Picture of the devil for ofcom.

  5. Dale 3
    Grenade

    Let me generalise my argument

    I want to have everything but I don't want to have to pay for anything. Oh yes, and I do want to be paid for all the work I do.

  6. Annihilator
    Grenade

    Facts and outrage

    When have we ever let facts get in the way of a good outrage story?

    I saw Goody Proctor with the devil!!

  7. Mike Flugennock
    Black Helicopters

    The more things change...

    ...the more they stay the same -- as per usual.

    Any of my fellow geezers here remember the old "modem tax" rumor/hoax that made the rounds on a regular basis on Usenet and in email about fifteen or so years ago? This sounds like a modern revival. I'm surprised this rumor hasn't caught on over here, as we've had "Endless September" ever since AOL was hooked up to the 'Net. I first saw it when I first joined a BBS around '89, and it'd show up maybe once or twice a year, usually forwarded en masse by the usual suckers at AOL, CompuServe, Prodigy, etc.

  8. Grease Monkey Silver badge

    Er?

    Businesses get taxed. What's new?

  9. Chris 211

    The concept makes people angry..

    The idea of finding something else to tax makes people angry rather then by how much. Business's are all ready being harassed by the performing rights group for petty things. Every aspect of life is taxed and people are rightly fed-up.. Oh look another tax!

  10. mrs doyle

    rubbish...

    the fact is that small community networks have been built to provide connections for people in notspots with no broadband and have been under the radar. Now they will be taxed and will fold, as no profits are made on them to start with and are nearly all run by volunteers. That is why the blogsphere was up in arms last week. Do get a few facts together before you write them off as eejits. In this case it is you who is the eejit. sos.

    chris

  11. spencer
    Stop

    @mrs doyle/chris

    I would love it if you could give us an example of this.

    The £100 hike is for commercial properties that are used for transmission, and most of these stations are already paying well over £100 already (an order of magitude more in most cases).

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