Stephen Moore, a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, says spectrum auctions may be one way to pay off President Trump’s tax cuts that’s flying under the radar. In an Op Ed for the Daily Caller News Foundation, he writes the federal government owns multiple trillions of dollars of federal assets. “The government could earn well more than $1 trillion and perhaps as much as $10 trillion by selling off these assets that are simply hoarded (figuratively) in the dark and dusty basement of government buildings,” he writes. “These assets could then generate added annual tax receipts once they are utilized for productive purposes.”
But he says spectrum, powering “mobile phones, WiFi and other wireless technologies such as 5G,” should be auctioned immediately. Moore and the FCC have noted that in the past, auctioning spectrum rights to telecommunication firms and tech companies has raised more than $100 billion for the U.S. Treasury.
Congress could raise at least another $100 billion in another round of spectrum auctions, Moore believes. “This strategy would help stimulate the economy in two ways. First, as in the past, the revenues raised can offset any real or imagined revenue loss from the imperative of making the Trump tax cuts permanent.”
Inside Towers reported a new accounting by the economic consulting firm NERA finds that auctioning 100 MHz of mid-band spectrum that’s licensed for 5G will boost U.S. GDP by more than $260 billion, and create 1.5 million new jobs.
“On at least four previous occasions, Congress has used dollars raised from spectrum auctions to offset tax cuts in reconciliation packages. That’s exactly what they should do again,” Moore writes.
“Anyone who is concerned about ensuring the uninterrupted connectivity of our electric grid system and our daily internet connection should be all for these auctions,” Moore states. He also says resuming the auction is “critical to maintaining our technology lead against the Chinese communist government,” noting that “One Chinese news agency reported last July that, China’s 5G network now covers every city and town in the country, as well as more than 90 percent of its villages.”
“We are dangerously lagging behind and without timely spectrum auctions the gap will grow wider. Auctions of the spectrum and other federal assets will drive progress and prosperity — and raise revenue to pay for tax cuts or retire our debt that is soon to eclipse $40 trillion. What’s not to like about that?”
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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