January 24, 2020
The headline was guaranteed to
raise the reader’s blood pressure: “As cable companies lose customers, Missouri
lawmakers consider giving them a tax break”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch online,
Jan. 23, 2020.
“Well,” I thought, “I’ll read the
story, in case they’re really NOT overlooking the obvious solution: Cable companies
should stop charging so much for their services that people turn to cord-cutting
and streaming in order to save money; and then they wouldn’t be losing
customers and revenue…”
But: The streaming services aren’t
paying taxes. The Missouri Cable Telecommunications Association feels that
cutting taxes for cable companies would level the playing field.
Nowhere does it say that cable
companies have ever considered making their prices reasonable, in order to woo
back their customers. Nope; their grand idea is to just lower their taxes, so
that consumers AND taxpayers get soaked. I do believe that the streaming services should be taxed, but why should the cable companies get a break?
Blood pressure, consider thyself
raised.
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