WCA September 2013

❖ Thirty-eight per cent would agree to hand over information as part of a loyalty programme; 39 per cent would do it for discount coupons or exclusive deals ❖ Thirty-six per cent said they would hand over personal data free of charge. Ms Silbey began her Light Reading article with an (apparently) rhetorical question: “Would you sell your soul for a better broadband plan?” One wonders what might have been learned if this were an item in the Amdocs survey. Elsewhere in telecom . . . ❖ In partnership with the city, the wireless provider AT&T in June placed 25 solar-powered charging stations in outdoor spaces around New York. The pilot project was inspired by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, when the company supplied diesel generators and cell towers on wheels to hard-hit neighbourhoods in the five boroughs. Working with Goal Zero (Bluffdale, Utah), a maker of portable solar chargers, and Brooklyn-based Pensa, which had been experimenting with the creation of stationary street chargers, AT&T won approval from Parks Department officials to test them, in rotation, at sites around the city. Three 15-watt panels and a 168-watt-hour lithium ion battery pack can reportedly keep a single solar station operating through the night, or over five days without sunshine. The user has a say in the powering-up: fill a smartphone in two hours, or give it a 30 per cent charge in 30 minutes. Chris Abbruzzese, vice president for marketing at Goal Zero, told the New York Times (17 th June) that consumers know exactly how much charging is required to power a phone or tablet for, say, the ride home from work. ❖ Law enforcement officials in the US are demanding that smartphone makers create a “kill switch” that would render stolen devices inoperable. Citing statistics showing that one in three robberies nationwide involves the theft of a mobile phone, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman of New York on 13 th June announced the formation of a nationwide coalition of law enforcement agencies committed to stamping out what he called an epidemic of such robberies. The Secure Our Smartphones Initiative will lean on smartphone companies and their shareholders to help dry up the secondary market in stolen phones by making kill switches standard on all new products within one year. Likening their use to the ability of credit card holders to cancel stolen cards, New York’s top prosecutor said: “All too often these robberies turn violent. There are assaults. There are murders.” Police in New York City – “the Big Apple” – apply the term apple-picking to thefts of the popular iPhone and other mobile products. Authorities say that such thefts figure in 40 per cent of all robberies in the city.

Canada New US immigration law: a ‘tax time bomb’ for Canadians who head south for the winter? If, as expected, an American immigration reform bill becomes law, it could have significant tax consequences for Canadians accustomed to spending part of the year in Florida or other US winter havens. The JOLT Act (Jobs Originated through Launching Travel), introduced in the US Senate on 15 th April, will mandate changes to the current rules that seem bound to complicate winter plans for holders of the so-called Snowbird or Canadian retiree visa. Toronto Star business reporter Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew pointed out the good news for these Canadians in the JOLT Act. It would allow them to spend up to eight months, or 240 days, a year in the US without a visa – almost two months beyond the current 182-day limit. But she also found some bad news. Canadians who spend that long in the US may be required to pay US income and estate taxes. (“US Law Could Be a Snowbird Tax Timebomb,” 31 st May). The aim of the Senate bill is to buoy the domestic travel industry, which currently employs about one in eight Americans. But Roy Berg, an international tax lawyer at Moodys Gartner Tax Law LLP (Calgary), urged caution on Canadians. He told the Star : “It looks like a great deal. I can be in Palm Springs for 240 days. But they didn’t tell you that it comes with a very high tax cost.” Currently, a Canadian who spends more than 182 days in the calendar year – or more than an average 120 days per year over a three-year period – may be considered a US resident for tax purposes. Mr Berg noted that the US also imposes an estate tax on the value of assets owned worldwide by some individuals. Depending on circumstances, the estate tax could take effect with a decedent who had lived in the US for even a brief period. ❖ An estimated 500,000 Canadians spend the winter in Florida every year, and Canadian Snowbird Association executive director Michael MacKenzie expressed confidence in their ability to adapt to the new rules. “Regular snowbirds are very aware of the tax consequences with respect to the current situation,” he told Ms Acharya-Tom Yew. “So I’m quite confident they would understand there would be an issue if they spent longer in the United States.” It is not clear how soon after enactment the JOLT Act would take effect. In the meantime, Mr MacKenzie said, his association has been in discussions with US lawmakers in an effort to ensure that appropriate taxation changes would follow on the proposed visa changes.

Dorothy Fabian Features Editor

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Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2013

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