[TteFAboB]

The internet is the last standing barrier to the complete control of information in Europe.

It wouldn't be too hard to bring down the printed media (not to mention TV and Radio stations since many of those are already under political [correctness] control), it has been done in Sweden, it could be done elsewhere as long as the return for the tax is offered. Free flow of information? Take it away from me, as long as I get good hospitals, good roads, good busses.

Some would say nobody should complain of the lack of freedom as long as they are benefiting from the public services.

Well, I'd rather walk in a sidewalk that has more craters than the moon and have hospitals manned by veterinarians than surrender the free flow of information.

The deal with the internet is that nobody knows how to tame it. You can ban it altogether, put up a firewall that keeps the less computer-literate users away from it, or go big-brother and control your users.

Banning only works in prison-islands where the chances of someone setting up a satellite connection are minimal, because your slave-population is both miserably poor and completely unable of acquiring the necessary technology.

A Fire-wall will keep "most" users out, limiting them to "approved" and "safe" websites, but the damned Bourgeois class will learn how to dribble the system, it's still the second best option after banning anyway, since at least the majority of the peasantry will be kept out.

Now, if you take the Big-Brother approach, you don't need to worry about the content at all. Just scan your users messaging for the saboteurs and enemies of the state and you can enforce the "appropriate" behavior through further action.

So, as August pointed, how would such a tax work? What's the potential of using it as a mean to gather intelligence on the unwanted citizens?

I'll give you a solution to the increasing cost of the European Union, shut down the political body completely and return the project to a simple, cheap, economical block, maintaining only the economical forums and the dispute-solving infrastructure (including diplomacy), bare necessities.