Catalunya, desperate for cash and running out of things to charge for, has slapped a tax of €0,25 a month on every single internet connection in the region.
So not only do we pay some of the most expensive ADSL costs in Europe, we now have an additional tax to pay on top! (If we’re in Catalunya, but I expect other regions will follow).
The tax is charged to ISPs, who must pay for each subscriber. They, in turn, will charge their users the tax via their bills.
The tax is supposed to be used to subsidise Catalan language audiovisual programmes, and is expected to raise 20,5 million euros a year.
It’s called the impuesto a los operadores proveedores de contenidos por Internet para el fomento del sector audiovisual, and will come into effect this summer.