Miscellaneous

In the midst of juggling paperwork and forms during tax season it’s tempting to imagine a world where your income tax forms spontaneously appear in your mailbox or inbox, filled out by the good graces of the IRS, ready for signature, free of charge. Return-free filing is touted in a recent piece by ProPublica and NPR, which makes the case that Americans could be spared needless frustration, anxiety and paperwork were it not for the lobbying efforts of Intuit, maker of TurboTax, and the pernicious influence of anti-tax activists. Unfortunately, the facts tell a different story and return-free filing advocates rest their case on a number of fallacies.

The Federal Communication Commission’s recent Mobility Fund Phase 1 Auction should be considered a “qualified success,” illustrating that reverse auctions and cost-effectiveness measures can be efficient ways to distribute Universal Service subsidies, explains Scott Wallsten in “Two Cheers for the FCC’s Mobility Fund Reverse Auction,” released today by the Technology Policy Institute. However, in order to address possible issues with future reverse auctions, the Commission should consider analyzing auction eligibility requirements, how it evaluates bids, and using different auction designs to discourage strategic bidding.

Individual operators of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) should determine if registration policies should be “open” or “closed,” recommends Technology Policy Institute President Thomas Lenard in comments filed with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Leaving the decision to the operator allows experimentation and innovation in business models and promotes flexibility, making it easier to allocate gTLDs to the highest-valued use as business models or economic conditions change.

Robert W. Crandall, one of the most prominent industrial organization economists working today, has joined the Technology Policy Institute as an Adjunct Senior Fellow. “Bob has done fundamental research in telecommunications, antitrust and other areas of regulatory policy,” said TPI president Tom Lenard. “We are extremely pleased he is joining us.”

In comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission, Technology Policy Institute President Thomas Lenard recommends the agency approve LightSquared’s license modification request in order to hasten deployment of its mobile broadband network. Having already made significant investments, LightSquared remains the most immediate prospect for becoming a viable competitor in the mobile broadband space, particularly for underserved areas.

In his post-election acceptance speech, President Obama said “fixing our immigration system” would be one of the first items on his legislative agenda and “we need to seize the moment”. But the president and the congress face a more immediate task: backing away from the “fiscal cliff” and coming up with a plan to avoid the $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts scheduled to kick in starting January 1. Easing immigration restrictions for high-skilled workers can help achieve that objective.