Oct 19 2008
SF: Prop O - Replacing the Emergency Response Fee with an Access Line Tax and Revising the Telephone Users Tax
Shall the City replace the Emergency Response Fee with an Access Line Tax at the same rates and with the same exemptions, and revise the Telephone Users Tax?
That $2.75 fee seen in the phone bill for landlines is currently used to support the 911 service. But a court ruling found fees in general to be more of a tax than a fee. So now the only way the City can keep the fee in the bill is to make it into a tax. Although the revenue from the tax will not necessarily go towards supporting the 911 service. Instead, the revenue generated will go into the general fund where it can be distributed to other services. That sounds like a bad thing.
The proposition is also looking to revise the Telephone Users Tax to tax any future forms of communication whether it be VOIP or some other undiscovered form.
Vote no on Proposition O. Keep the fee until the court says otherwise and when the time comes, the voters can decide whether or not a tax is needed to fund the 911 service.
One Response to “SF: Prop O - Replacing the Emergency Response Fee with an Access Line Tax and Revising the Telephone Users Tax”
[...] Prop O - Replacing the Emergency Response Fee with an Access Line Tax and Revising the Telephone Use… passed with 127,248 (66%) YES votes to 64,734 (34%) NO votes. Still paying the tax; except now, the funds collected will not have to be used to pay for the 911 service. [...]