Technology and the Government

This afternoon I was reviewing my office phone bills. In the last several years we have experienced a significant decline in phone bills so that even with a lot of cellular usage, we are paying about a third less than we did a decade ago. That is due to technological improvements. But here is the catch, I signed a check to one of our carriers (who offers us lines) and the bill was for a bit more than $200. Of that the bill consisted of total taxes for the feds of $68.18 and the state of $18.18. Between excise and universal service and all of the other nonsensical levies about 40% of the bill was for taxes. (remember that one of the crowning achievements of the last GOP Congress was to eliminate the federal Spanish American War Excise on telephones, I guess they forgot a couple of others or added some in their place - that happened in May of 2006).

If the government had done anything to help build the technology it might have been one thing. But that linkage is non-existent. And some candidates think we are not taxed enough. How absurd.