US Congress debates a $10 tourist tax
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iXE6D98gjll9JDKQYRRMKvEzsWaA
Plans to tax people wanting to enter the United States were slammed on Thursday by the European Union, which called them a step backwards for travellers.
The US Congress is debating whether to introduce a 10-dollar (6.88-euro) tax on the so-called Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) and channel the money back into the US tourism industry.
What do you think?
15 years
Well, a 6.88 Euro entrance fee wouldn´t keep me from going to America, it just doesn´t look very welcoming, if you ask me. Tourists already spend a lot of money on the US tourism industry, so what´s the point of another tax?
In my opinion, they just want to get the credit card details, so they can check if you recently bought explosives in a suicide bomber store somewhere. Big Brother at Homeland Security is watching you.
15 years
In my opinion, they just want to get the credit card details, so they can check if you recently bought explosives in a suicide bomber store somewhere.
Maybe -- a few years ago they were data mining grocery store databases to assemble shopping habit profiles...
15 years
The idea was that a spike in, say, falafel sales, combined with other data, would lead to Iranian secret agents in the south San Francisco-San Jose area.
:D:D:D:D:D
I don´t know what they smoke... but i want to try that stuff, too!
15 years
Off topic, but a guy from Minnesota was telling me that to purchase alcohol in MN you need a MN liquor ID card. (If you were from out of state or country you could use your local drivers license or whatever). This meant that your purchases could be tracked as your card was always scanned when you bought alcohol. Consequently if you were say a teacher, or whatever, they could see if you were buying a few bottles of whisky a day. Then (in theory) they could come knock on your door and ask why you're drinking so much. Not that this has ever happened, but the privacy implications are certainly there, which is stange for a country which resents govt interference and is the land of the free.
Mind you this is just what I was told - it could be a load of rubbish - I'm very gullible.
15 years
...the privacy implications are certainly there, which is stange for a country which resents govt interference and is the land of the free.
I don't think Americans (and most of the world) are very privacy conscious.
The US is full of serious privacy violations like Gmail, Google Docs, Flash cookies (LSOs), shopper loyalty cards, cell phone GPS (e.g., Brightkite, Google Latitude), ISPs' logging of Web traffic, data mining of social networks, illegal wiretapping by the Government, strip search machines... and no one seems to care :)
The US Government has even said, "Privacy no longer can mean anonymity..." -- and no one seems to be complaining :)
Even cash now contains radio chips and can theoretically be traced from ATM machine to cash register...
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