Firstly, I still think that paying 60p for a near guarantee delivery the next day is remarkably cheap. To send a birthday card by post is cheaper than driving the card round to anyone who lives more than 1.5 miles away (I’m thinking about the round trip!). In Germany, a first class stamp costs £1.21.
Back to email - everyone seems to be complaining about receiving too much email. On the other hand, I complain about receiving too much post as well, because every item of post seems to be a bill - but that’s different.
Back to email again - and the fact we all seem to receive too much of it. I even get cc’d on social emails now. So my grand idea is... the government should tax email.
The government is losing revenue from falling post volumes: it’s fallen 25% since 2006, and more falls are expected.
All other forms of messaging have a direct or indirect tax - mail, phone calls, mobile phone calls and even text messages have a cost which includes 20% VAT. The only messaging I can think of that don’t include VAT are email and public messaging (Skype - assuming it’s free, Microsoft Messenger or Google Talk equivalents).
So in order to reduce the quantity of emails addressed to me, and to raise more money for government, please start taxing email!!!!
Photo courtesy of Zazzle, where you can buy that lovely mug.
