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> Government is trying to tax e-mail!
>
> ==========================
>
> If your local post office has a bulletin board you might want to
copy and
> post this to alert others. Please remove headers, etc. before posting
at
> your local post office.
>
> Please read the following carefully if you intend to stay online and
> continue using email: The last few months have revealed an alarming
trend
> in the Government of the United States attempting to quietly push
through
> legislation that will affect your use of the Internet. Under proposed
> legislation the U.S. Postal Service will be attempting to bilk email
users
> out of "alternate postage fees". Bill 602P will permit the Federal
Govt to
> charge a 5 cent surcharge on every email delivered, by billing
Internet
> Service Providers at source. The consumer would then be billed in turn
by
> the ISP. Washington D.C. lawyer Richard Stepp is working without pay
to
> prevent this legislation from becoming law.
> The U.S. Postal Service is claiming that lost revenue due to the
> proliferation of email is costing nearly $230,000,000 in revenue per
year.
> You may have noticed their recent ad campaign "There is nothing like a
> letter". Since the average citizen received about 10 pieces of email
per
> day in 1998, the cost to the typical individual would be an
additional 50
> cents
> per day, or over $180 dollars per year, above and beyond their regular
> Internet costs. Note that this would be money paid directly to the
U.S.
> Postal Service for a service they do not even provide. The whole point
of
> the Internet is democracy and non-interference. If the federal
government
> is permitted to tamper with our liberties by adding a surcharge to
email,
> who
> knows where it will end. You are already paying an exorbitant price
for
> snail mail because of bureaucratic inefficiency. It currently takes up
to 6
> days for a letter to be delivered from New York to Buffalo. If the
U.S.
> Postal Service is allowed to tinker with email, it will mark the end
of the
> "free" Internet in the United States. One congressman, Tony Schnell
(r) has
> even suggested a "twenty to forty dollar per month surcharge on all
> Internet service" above and beyond the government's proposed email
charges.
> Note
> that most of the major newspapers have ignored the story, the only
exception
> being the Washingtonian which called the idea of email surcharge "a
useful
> concept who's time has come" (March 6th 1999 Editorial.) Don't sit by
and
> watch your freedoms erode away!
> Send this e-mail to EVERYONE on your list, and tell all your friends
and
> relatives to write to their congressman and say "No!" to Bill 602P. It
will
> only take a few moments of your time, and could very well be
instrumental
> in killing a bill we don't want.
>
> Kate Turner
> Assistant to Richard Stepp, Berger, Stepp and Gorman
> Attorneys at Law 216 Concorde Street, Vienna, VA
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