No EU tax for SMS and email

Tax on SMS and email 'not on the table', insists MEP

MEP Alain Lamassoure has hit back at reports that he is championing a tax on SMS and email messages to fund the European Union. 

"My remarks have been interpreted as a proposal to tax SMS and emails to the benefit of the European budget," Lamassoure said in an email to vnunet.com.

"I insist that these ideas are not on the table for our European work and I have no intention of putting them on the table. Internet users who felt affected by the press coverage can be reassured."

Lamassoure explained that his job in the European Parliament is to propose reforms for the financing of the Community budget, and that this issue fell to the member states since the EU does not have the power to raise tax.

Any conclusions from that process could only come into force with the agreement of all EU governments and the ratification of all national parliaments, the MEP said.

However, in a personal opinion included in his message, Lamassoure wondered whether the technology industry had a further role to play in taxation.

"Several countries have implemented a levy on air transport or road freight while others are more interested in CO2 emissions trading," he wrote.

"Can some of the hundreds of new services arising from the technology and communication revolution participate? And in what way?"