thanos: blog 
the mad titan speaks...
double taxation!
Published Aug. 3, 2009Views: 588
Good morning everyone! I wanted to address a simple matter with an absurd result. Here’s the rundown:
Not ten minutes ago, I got off the phone with a Sirius Satellite Radio customer service representative. I logged into my bank account this morning to look at what had posted over the weekend. My monthly Sirius subscription charge posted this morning, but for a price much higher than normal. I called Sirius’ customer hotline and was promptly helped by someone’s whose name I couldn’t understand. The representative was polite, but spoke in a strange dialect that I could barely comprehend. They were definitely not from India, though. I knew that much. Once she pulled my account up, I proceeded to ask her about the status of my account and for the breakdown of my current charges. She then asked me as to what date the charges posted, to which I repeated myself and said “current”. The representative then asked me “from this calendar year?” Wanting to choke her through the phone, I said “yes, as in the charge Sirius posted to my bank account today.” After explaining to her that today was August 3rd, she placed me on hold and pulled the charges up, then returned to me. After fumbling through a few sentences that made little to no sense, she got to the charge’s breakdown.
$12.99 – First home radio unit
$1.08 – Local Tax
$1.22 – Music Royalty Tax
$8.99 – Second car radio unit
$1.08 – Local Tax
$1.22 – Music Royalty Tax
After getting through everything, I was a little perplexed. Why was I being charged the music royalty tax and local tax twice? For those of you that know me, I’m a supporter of taxes. I think everyone should pay their FAIR share to help support their country. Yet, like our Founding Fathers, I’m totally against double taxation. I proceeded to explain to the representative that I understood she was not responsible, but I wanted to know why I was being taxed twice. I couldn’t make out most of what she proceeded to say, but I did catch something about “having two radio units”. To this, I responded that I may have two radios, but only one account and I’m the sole customer on the account. She replied again with “I’m so sorry, but the charges are per radio.”
I laughed a little, honestly. Surely, she heard it. I then replied:
“I am ok with being taxed once because I have one single account. Yet, can only listen to one radio at a time. For being taxed twice to even remotely make sense, I would have to listen to both my house and car radios at the exact same time. How or why would I listen to BOTH radios AT THE SAME TIME?”
She said she was sorry and for me to refer any future questions to Sirius.com. I knew I wasn’t going to get a decent answer, but I wanted to see what she was going to say anyway. Needless to say, I got the answer I expected.
Think about it this way – does your satellite or cable television company charge you a local or royalty tax for every unit of theirs you use? No. They charge you one set of taxes for one account.
I’ll be turning one of my radio units off shortly and have already prepared a nice little letter for their corporate offices. I don’t expect my actions to do any good, but it’s worth a shot.
Filed under: Economy
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GOLO member since July 16, 2008
August 3, 2009 10:17 a.m.
I like to start the day off with a good hearty laugh.....
GOLO member since May 15, 2009
August 3, 2009 10:18 a.m.
It's only "fair"
GOLO member since October 16, 2007
August 3, 2009 10:19 a.m.
GOLO member since October 29, 2008
August 3, 2009 10:21 a.m.
you wouldn't have a problem?
August 3, 2009 10:23 a.m.
I find it highly amusing when today's "liberals" try to equate their ideologies with the Founding Fathers.
It's double think in it's purest forms.
The key component of taxation you are missing realted tot eh Founding Fathers is the concept of ESSENTIAL governmental roles for taxation.
That condition has not existed for quite some time, making any allusion to the Founding Fathers' ideas about taxes a bit moot.
ALL taxes are paid by the CONSUMER. No one pays their FAIR SHARE - it's just a theroetical construct - how can equality placed on a sliding scale?
If you continue to look into the ideals of the Founding Fathers you will see how little the modern "liberal" has in common with the tradtitonal 'western liberals' (i.e Adams, Jefferson, Paine, et al) that democrats THINK they are. It's merely a facade.
GOLO member since May 15, 2009
August 3, 2009 10:29 a.m.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE give me a phone with that button on it...I got one for pictures, one for videos, one for web browsing, but I'd pay dearly for THAT button...
GOLO member since November 26, 2007
August 3, 2009 10:29 a.m.
GOLO member since October 29, 2008
August 3, 2009 10:30 a.m.
GOLO member since October 29, 2008
August 3, 2009 10:32 a.m.
After the painstaking ordeal, I gave her my card number to pay for another year, she told me the next time I turned it on that it would say updated and to hit any button to reset it.
I knew something wasn't right, she billed my card alright, but I never got that message, the message I did get 2 weeks later, was to call 1-888. . . .Sirius so they could tell me my service lapsed and I had to pay a renewal fee. The previous person took my payment, but never re-activated me.
Luckily I was dealing with a competent person this time who was able to back track and remove the renewal fee. 30 seconds later I had my radio again.
GOLO member since February 22, 2008
August 3, 2009 10:34 a.m.
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