Recently, Andy Abramson posted an article discussing a proposed tax on SMS texting. Taxes always get my attention and this article really got me thinking.

First, allow me to quote the US Constitution:

Amendment 1 – Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Before I continue, can you imagine a law or amendment today that could be written in only 45 words? I digress…

First, I completely understand that the Federal Government, in this case, does not suggest taxing SMS (right now). In this case, we have the City of Vallejo, California placing a tax on SMS (texting), private phone networks, pagers, and VoIP services. Yet, we do have many taxes from the Federal Government placed on our phone and communications bills (have you checked all those taxes on your cellphone bill?).

Second, I also understand that we have an amendment making the amendments of the US constitution applicable to the states. But, this really isn’t about civics; although we do know that I love to get into long civics discussions for some unknown geek reason.

This post deals with a new proposed tax on texting, private phone systems, and VoIP. Clearly, both Patrick and I do not support this tax. We do not support any communications tax; excepting a minimal tax to ensure availability to 911.

Right now, contrary to what people may or may not think, VoIP systems are subjected to the USF. In fact, VoIP service receives the highest tax rate of any service. The USF, short for the Universal Service Fund, arrived courtesy of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in order to:

• promote the availability of quality services at just, reasonable, and affordable rates
• increase access to advanced telecommunications services throughout the Nation
• advance the availability of such services to all consumers, including those in low income, rural, insular, and high cost areas at rates that are reasonably comparable to those charged in urban areas
• increase access to telecommunications and advanced services in schools, libraries and rural health care facilities
• provide equitable and non-discriminatory contributions from all providers of telecommunications services to the fund supporting universal service programs

Regulation of this fund and what it does can make you pull your hair out. The USF can help Ma and Pa get a landline on the ol’ farm. It can also be abused and allow free international calls from rural Iowa. And, it can even lead to the hotly publicized Google/AT&T smackdown.

But this isn’t so much about the USF. Although based on my rambling approach here, you’d never guess.

This is about the taxing communication.

I personally understand the desire to provide universal service. I do not understand how a tax subjected against a private phone network constitutes anything other than a tax on free speech.

For that matter, I believe any communications tax to be a tax on free speech. Anytime a new service comes along it’s taxed. My cell phone bill had communications taxes from the city, state, and federal governments. I pay a city, state, and Federal tax on my cable bill. On top of that, I pay a USF fee on the VoIP lines that I use from the Internet I’m already taxed on.

Are you going to increase my taxes on the SMS messages I send? Really? Aren’t I already taxed on my cell and VoIP bills? Are you going to increase the tax based on the number of times I exercise my freedom of speech?

Taxing the communication is one thing. I disagree, but it is what it is. I try to vote for people who are against those taxes; sadly they are hard to find. But taxing me on the speech itself, that just seems incredibly unconstitutional. And taxing me on a private network? It’s private. We don’t tax people for the amount of books they have in their personal library either.

To me this tax seems as absurd as taxing someone for the amount of books they read.

Microsoft Response Point is the Microsoft version of VoIP. Do you sense a bit of sarcasm? Honestly, we don’t know. We will not use this post to feed the Microsoft vs. Linux debate. Instead we will use a “historical perspective” to explain our position and then move on…

Start Historical Perspective

The vast majority of VoIP solutions are built on top of a linux operating system. This translates to the stereotype of a rather large, geeky individual (have you seen the photo of Patrick and Fred?), installing the VoIP system, configuring phones, drinking caffeine, cursing at users, reconfiguring phones, talking about comic books, drinking more caffeine, and then working more on the VoIP system. When finished, the end result is generally a very stable and well run system. A system that works so well, that people are willing to listen to Fred and Patrick  (uh… we mean our geeky friend) talk about comic books; simply because the phone system (and network) run so well.

Enter Microsoft. Microsoft tries (and sometimes succeeds) in making products that a non-geek can implement. Through graphical user interfaces (GUIs), they allow the Microsoft user to point, click, and essentially “program” their needs into the Microsoft solution. For small businesses, without a geek on hand (or time on hand), the Microsoft solution can sometimes handle all of their needs and provide an excellent solution.

Yes… geeks are divided. Some geeks hate Microsoft as if Microsoft were the Space 1999 to their Star Trek. Other geeks, have evolved into more tolerant creatures; agreeing to disagree and live together with nice TCP/IP connected handshake. Sure, if you have a custom situation and wish to code a phone system to work specifically as you wish, you’re going to want to talk to some geeks. If you’re a small business, with let’s say 50 or less phones, and want a phone system for your office, Microsoft Response Point may be very helpful and also save you some money.

End Historical Perspective

Recently, VoIP Supply announced they will be offering the complete line of Microsoft Response Point small business VoIP phone systems from Aastra, D-Link, and Quanta. VoIP Supply even has a nice page for it on their website: http://www.voipsupply.com/phone-systems/response-point.

If you know an office looking for a simple, easy-to-use small business phone system, have them talk with the folks at VoIP Supply and see if the Microsoft Response Point system is a good fit.

As for us? We’re ready to talk about The Avengers movie coming out in less than 2 years.