The city of Sacramento, California, plans to put on the November 4th ballot an additional tax on new technology such as mobile text messaging and VoIP in exchange for lowering taxes on land-line phones and other utilities.

In 1998, Sacramento city received $16 million in taxes from wired land-line phones and only $1.5 million from wireless mobile phones. In 2007, that was switched around, with $12 million in revenue from mobile phones and $9 million from land lines. City officials said the drop in land-line phone taxes occurred, between 1998 and 2007, even as 75,000 more people moved into Sacramento.

If your house has one landline and three cell phones your tax bill for communications will be increased threefold.

The city's utility users tax on electrical, natural gas, telephone and cable TV services generates more than $55 million a year for the general fund.

A big reason for the proposed new tax is the city's ability to collect taxes on mobile phones and other communications methods are facing legal challenges. In 2006, US government said federal excise tax didn't apply to wireless services. Sacramento's utility user ordnance says anything exempt from federal excise tax is also exempt from taxing in Sacramento city.

If the city voters pass this new tax there will be a much broader definition of the utility taxes said Russ Fehr, city treasurer. Fehr said the city has to make the changes to protect their revenue sources. That is politico speak for we - city government - are going to raise prices, and, you - lowly taxpayers - won't be able to figure out why.

The Sacramento Bee's online version of this story has nearly 80 comments from readers. About 95% of the comments are opposed to any new taxes on their mobile phones. One reader said he would open a postal mailbox outside the city limits and have all his mail delivered there. Another reader said, “At 7.5%, the City's utility tax is the highest in the region, by quite a bit. The tax currently costs me $15 to $20 a month, which is outrageous.”

Someone else asked mostly techy questions: “Are they going to tax a text message delivered or received by a cell tower in the city? If I live just outside the city and never enter the city, but my text message does...will I be taxed? Will a person from out of state be taxed if their text message is received by a person passing near Sacramento City on a highway? Will it only apply to residents of the city, and then is it only when they text message within the city limits? Are they planning to tax the text messages of Sacramento residents when they are out of the city, perhaps away at college for most of the year, but their bill still gets mailed to a Sacramento address? “

We can be sure more US cities will be looking towards this new tax on text messaging. X