Month: May 2021

From E&C Republicans [1]:

“On the broadband deployment side, an R Street blog post details the potential hazards with the Biden infrastructure proposals. Most worrisome, the plan appears to call for a favoritism toward municipally run networks, despite significant potential problems with these networks. Further, the plan also calls for future proofing broadband networks, though this essentially means fiber networks with symmetrical 100 megabits per second (Mbps) upload and download speeds. These proposals would harm competition and innovation, leading to lower private investment in broadband infrastructure. Instead, Congress should continue the streamlining of local deployment processes, as local barriers such as access to public rights-of-way and replacing utility poles can often serve as a significant barrier to deployment. 

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“On the broadband adoption side, the Biden plan also alluded to potential price controls, with general sentiment being that broadband prices are too high. However, data suggests prices are lower and speeds are higher than ever before. To the extent that low-income consumers need additional support to afford broadband connectivity, Congress should instead look to potential reforms to the Lifeline program that would deliver the benefit directly to the consumers, as well as update the funding mechanism to bring stability to the program.” – R Street Letter [2] to the Communications and Technology Subcommittee Republican Leader Bob Latta and Chairman Mike Doyle 

“Under the American Jobs Plan, the Biden administration would allocate $100 billion to build high-speed broadband. The proposal would distribute funding with a preference for municipal broadband initiatives and the construction of “future proof” infrastructure. It also seeks to reduce the cost of broadband internet to encourage adoption, though the means for cost mitigation remain unclear. Unfortunately, this plan quickly becomes counterproductive. Municipal broadband projects often ignore the key challenge: the equilibrium number of firms. By adding an additional competitor that can cross-subsidize broadband provisions, municipal networks often disrupt the…

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President Biden is seeking $80 billion in additional funding over the next decade for the Internal Revenue Service, seen here in Washington, D.C.

Photo: Zach Gibson/Getty Images Updated May 20, 2021 2:04 pm ET

WASHINGTON—The Biden administration’s tax enforcement plan would double the number of IRS employees over the next decade and require banks, payment services and cryptocurrency exchanges to provide the government more information about account flows, according to a Treasury Department report released Thursday.

Treasury officials project that the plan would generate a net $700 billion over the next 10 years and $1.6 trillion in the decade after that, and the report says those figures are conservative because they underestimate how audits deter tax dodging and don’t count any benefits from improving IRS technology.

The report outlines the administration’s pitch for about $80 billion in additional funding for the Internal Revenue Service over the next decade, arguing that weak enforcement disproportionately benefits wealthy tax evaders.

Beefed-up tax enforcement is part of President Biden’s plan to pay for family benefits, including an extension of the expanded child tax credit. Because the plan doesn’t require raising taxes, it has drawn bipartisan interest in discussions about financing for investments in roads, bridges, broadband and other types of infrastructure.

There are hurdles in turning the idea into policy and the policy into federal revenue that wouldn’t arrive instantly. The plan’s success hinges on a long-term congressional commitment to tax enforcement, the IRS’s ability to hire and train tens of thousands of people and the government’s capacity to build and manage an information-technology overhaul at the tax agency.

Already, some Republicans are warning about potential…

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