Satellite taxes

[Ken Brown]

mmotyka at lsil.com wrote:
> 
> Um, wouldn't a natural way to assess property taxes be to first decide
> in which jurisdiction the property rests? 

No Virginia, "The Man who Sold the Moon" was not written by David Bowie.

> For instance project the
> boundary of jurisdictions into space from the geometrical center of the
> earth. In which case it would probably be Brazil that should be
> collecting the taxes and Hughes would be writing off the taxes as a cost
> thereby reducing the taxes collected in California. Look for the
> locations over international waters to get crowded. 

Hey, you almost make me feel like Tim May! Get with the program. Use
those search engines.  Everyone should read the works of Robert
Heinlein. Not to mention half a dozen old sf hacks from the 1940s to
the  1960s. If they had, they might not have an answer to the problem
"who should tax a satellite", never mind the even harder problem "how do
I stop my satellite being taxed", but they would at least have *thought*
about it. And why the  the Brazil option probably wouldn't work. 

Or has my gross British sense of humour failed to detect your subtle
American sense of irony?

Of course, as someone else pointed out in the parallel thread, the
diplomats thought of it as well, and limited airspace to a hundred
somethings (can't remember what. Kilometres I assume. If it was miles
some eccentric-orbit spy satellites might get into the airspace. Though
it is hard to imagine the CIA paying their Iraqi taxbill for
reconnaissance overflights).

In general sf is of no help in predicting the future. But it sometimes
means that when the future comes the questions we have to answer don't
take us quite as much by surprise as they do some of our neighbours.
Even if we don't always agree on the  answers. Anyway it is fun, so hie
thee to the nearest bookshop and get into the backstory.

Ken Brown