Berkeley e-mail tax is not the answer

[Commentary] Give Berkeley Councilman Gordon Wozniak points for creativity. Noting that the struggling U.S. Postal Service has been undercut by, among other things, the prevalence of e-mail, Wozniak suggested to the city council that "a very tiny tax on e-mail" might be a way to shore up the service's vital functions. He suggested that a tiny amount, like a cent per gigabyte, might be enough to earn the postal service "billions" of dollars a year. It sounds like an only-in-Berkeley idea, but in fact Wozniak is not the first person to suggest such a thing. More than a decade ago, the United Nations looked at a tax, thinking it could help fund a "global communications revolution." It seems the revolution proceeded without the tax, thank you very much.