Italy wants to tax text messages

Italians send more text messages per capita than any other country in the world (an average of 465 per person per year), which is why we expect some sort of massive general strike (or at least some very stylish protests) if the government tries to push through a plan to impose a tax of one euro cent on every SMS text message that's sent. What's most galling is that they've proposed the plan in order to help pay for tax cuts promised by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during his election campaign, but even if it does go through, it won't be so bad. Sure, the teen text addicts tapping out 200 messages a day might feel the pinch, but the average yearly tax burden per person would be about 4.65 euros, or just over six bucks a year.

[Via textually.org]