WiFi debate: yea or nay?
Wi-Fi run by cities: Yea or nay?
Harold Feld of the Media Access Project (a media access advocacy organization) squared off against Tom Lenard of the Progress and Freedom Foundation (a free market economic think tank) in a debate about municipal WiFi.
Feld argues that municipal WiFi is an infrastructural necessity on par with roads. Lenard says the private sector should do it and that municipalities will invariably raise taxes to “subsidize” the networks.
I’m obviously on Feld’s side here. Free or highly subsidized municipal internet access is a great boon for both private citizens AND business. And this is one time where corporate welfare will also benefit citizens.
The thing that really irks me about Lenard’s argument is his reliance on the specious “taxes” argument. This anti-tax stance has led to the starvation of local and state governments and the destruction of our local infrastructures, education etc. According to the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, the average and Marginal Effective Tax Rates of the US are already +10% lower than any EU countries (29.4% in the US compared to Germany’s 52%, France’s 48.3%, and UK’s 31.1% — you may need to visit an academic library to access these statistics). And I won’t even get into GDP.
So, we could afford to raise our taxes a small percentage point in order to have better schools, better roads, and of course municipal WiFi networks. There are some things that should be not-for-profit and Wifi certainly fits into that category!
See as background, “Let There Be Wi-Fi” By Robert McChesney and John Podesta.