FTC Proposes 5% Tax On "Consumer Electronics"

As part of a draft plan to "save journalism" (as in, "save newspapers"), the Federal Trade Commission is making a number of proposals to Washington. Among them is a 5% tax on consumer electronics. Hey, game consoles are consumer electronics!

It's already been dubbed the "iPad Tax" by some hipsters, but really, that's a little stupid. Consumer electronics isn't just iPads, or iPhones, or iMacs. It's a Zune, a DS, an Xbox 360, a PS3, a Tivo, a tablet, a laptop and a digital camera as well.

The thinking behind the tax is that it would generate $4 billion annually for the US government, which it could then use to subsidise the continued operation of failing media outlets like newspapers, who have seen their ad revenues drop by over 40% in the past decade.

Putting aside concerns of how this would generate a conflict of interest between the media and the federal government, it's astonishing to think that consumers could be slugged an extra 5% at the register when buying a PlayStation to help save a newspaper.

While 5% doesn't sound like much, on a $500 purchase, that's an extra $25.

Before you grab torches and pitchforks, though, note this isn't law. It's not even the final word from the FTC. It is, as the FTC puts it, "solely for the purposes of discussion". Well, mission accomplished!

POTENTIAL POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS TO SUPPORT THE REINVENTION OF JOURNALISM [FTC]

I'm sorry but I don't quite get why we want to save the failing media outlets.  I understand that many people still prefer print but I don't quite understand why I have to pay for their refusal to change.

goddamnit no just no i already pay too much for electronics another 5 percent? NO 

I'm very aware of the importance of free and independent journalism, but I don't know if this is the right way to ensure it..

@ Dioxinis )

awesome sig, I'm looking forward to Majin and The Last Guardian as well

Because a free and independent press is important... the government needs to subsidize it? Yeah, no conflict of interest there.

Not to mention that this makes about as much sense as subsidizing the buggy whip industry. The dinosaur media is dying for a reason.

Free and independent journalism is important.... but yippies that sit on their ass all day and just use their media badge to cut lines everywhere and get free services are pretty useless.... that's what journalism is in france...

Oh and they also do humanitarian missions... really what they are paid for...

Don't see a reason to be saving it at all.

Some prefer print and there still is print media, and will be for quite a while. Just not so much of it because not so many want it as before.

Yeah, this doesn't really seem like a automative bail-out type thing where the print media is failing because of horrible management, it's simply failing because people aren't using it as much anymore.  What are they going to propose next, placing a tax on iTunes for downloading music to save CD's?

I can't remember the last time I read an actual physical newspaper and every year I get a phone book and yellow pages put on my doorstep that immediately go to the dumpster.  I just have no use for either of those things, I wish I could actually tell the city to stop giving me phone books so they stop wasting the paper and money.

What a joke. If journalism needs to survive it needs to adapt.

if the old business model doesn't work,it needs to think of a new one that will meet the needs of the 21st century not penalise those who are already there.

Meh. Let the businesses adapt or die.

Its silly because several companies are starting to do alright with the internet, not amazingly mind you. The problem isn't that news isn't a neccesary service anymore. Its just that many people consume it online where the advertising revenue simply isn't a profitable as the traditional model that newspapers had.

They just need monetize tp the content more effectively, either with more effective advertising or transition the old faithful into online subscription services (which shouldn't be too difficult because the content a newspaper can provide, scoops etc and with their generally more quality writering [excluding tabloids lol] should lead to people still using the services) whilst keeping the physical paper going for aslong as ecenomically possible. I think the kindle and the ipad etc will help with subscription services. I know several papers in Australia are already offering subsciptions on the ipad that are doing quite well.

The problem isn't as bad in Australia, I mean we buy like 5 to 6 different newspapers a week in my household (plus numerous magazines). But the trend is the same everywhere, its just more advanced in some places.