Probably, if the smart plates are using wireless technology.
Oh, wait, not sure what exactly a License Plate Advertisement is? Never heard of a Smart Plate? Didn’t know the FTC was looking into applying a sales tax on advertisements delivered via broadband?
We aren’t totally clear on all those great questions either, but here is our best effort:
A License Plate Advertisement apparently is just that, a license plate that is actually a digital monitor, able to ‘broadcast’ advertisements, Amber Alerts, “wash me” messages, whatever. And California wants to issue them to motorists and collect advertising revenue from the messages they might send.
Creepy or cool we guess, depending on your approach to ‘things my car says without me knowing it’. And don’t forget that the plates could come in handy for auto payment of tolls, parking lot fees, and fleet inventory maintenance.
Anyhow, the Smart Plate is the technology. And really cool, based on this glowing fact sheet from the guys who build it.
And finally, would the receipts from this advertising be subject to a proposed tax on advertisements delivered via the internet? We can’t really predict, but the possibility sure exists.
The take away? While California may not be likely to impose a sales tax on the advertising revenues it raises for itself, the federal government may have already begun the process of imposing their own.
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You Americans are so savvy and quick to pick up on new technologies.
Here in the UK; just the idea of this would have tax payers shaking in the their boots with fear!
John D