“It’s a dumb idea,” said Jim Wunderman, president of the Bay Area Council business-sponsored advocacy group. “This is how conversations take place in this day and age, and it’s almost like saying there should be a tax on the conversations we have.” -Mercury News

Several business groups have opposed the idea, including the Bay Area Council, California Chamber of Commerce and Silicon Valley Leadership Group, among others, who calculated that the new tax would cost wireless customers around $44.5 million per year.

Future text-tax victim

According to the CPUC, the surcharge could help keep the low-income assistance Public Purpose Program budget afloat, which has risen to $998 million in 2017 from $670 million in 2011. That said, telecom industry revenues which have funded the program have fallen from $16.5 billion in 2011 to $11.3 billion in 2017 according to the report.

"This is unsustainable over time," notes the report, which argues that a text message tax will boost revenue that would help low-income Californians afford phone service.