UK super-fast broadband tax scrapped at the last minute
The controversial £6 per year super-fast broadband tax has been dropped as the government races to push through key legislation before Parliament is dissolved next week.
The tax on all households with a land-line was to raise £170 million a year in order to speed up the growth of the fibre optic network infrastructure across the UK.
However the tax quickly raised opposition, with the Conservatives vowing to drop it should they be victorious in May’s general election.
Andrew Ferguson, editor of ThinkBroadband, said that dropping the tax weakens the chances of super-fast broadband going nationwide any time soon. “The dropping of the 50p per month tax will be welcomed by those that thought it was unfair, but it throws the current Labour plans to have next generation broadband to 90% of homes by 2017 in disarray,” he said.
Despite the news, it is imagined that Labour will reinstate the tax, should they gain another term in Downing Street.
Via: BBC
3 comments
“You gotta pay to play” – Florida Lotto
The article is very professionally written. I enjoy reading every day
I wouldn’t say I’m opposed to the tax but I am opposed to it being used to roll out superfast broadband as the norm. What was the target, 90% of the country to be covered? Well that’s great but what about the places that still can’t get a decent broadband connection as it is?
I want to see the exising infrastructure upgraded to ensure that everyone has a good, working broadband connection. That should be considered a right. Superfast broadband, on the other hand, is overkill and few can honestly claim that they need it. I’m sure plenty want it but it should be their own responsibility to compare broadband packages and investigate what is and isn’t available. And if superfast isn’t available, be patient. And if it never becomes available, it’s not as though you’re cut off from the internet.
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