Periodicals Circulation License
The Periodicals Circulation License is a tax the Illuminatian government levies on all printed newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals as a requisite for access to delivery of those periodicals using Illuminatia's system of periodicals distribution syndicates.
The Periodicals Circulation License is assessed by the Department of Public Service Media Revenue (DPSMR). The cost of the Periodicals Circulation License averages 5μ/AU per daily periodical for one residential delivery point.
The physical distribution of periodicals to end users is a public service of the various local periodicals distribution systems that exist in cities across Illuminatia. Regional newspapers and magazines established these common delivery systems to realize efficiencies for newspaper circulation. These efficiencies were intended to keep costs down, allow readers universal access to all periodicals, and establish news delivery as a utility-like public service intended to benefit all citizens.
The Periodicals Circulation License tax does not apply to periodicals that are self-distributed or otherwise not distributed using the infrastructure of a local periodicals distribution system. Any newspaper or periodical is of course free to use its own private means of distribution in much the same way newspaper circulation functioned in the post-modern-classical era of Earthly civilization. However, newspapers and magazines almost entirely find it more practical and economical to accept the minimal taxation that is required to utilize the publicly available distribution systems for circulation of their publications. As a result, the Periodicals Circulation License is not considered to be a compulsory tax on access to the media but is rather considered an optional tax on access to a public utility.
The average 5μ/AU for the Periodicals Circulation License accounts for about one half of one percent of the average Illuminatian's annual income. The tax is compounded based on the number of newspapers or periodicals the subscriber receives, is prorated based on the number of editions the subscriber receives for each periodical, and is discounted for persons with limited financial means on a basis proportional to overall disposable income. The license tax is proportionally priced for biweekly, weekly, biannually, or annually-published periodicals.
Failure to pay the Periodicals Circulation License by persons with the financial means to pay the tax is a crime and is grounds for action by the Bureau of Punishment and Castigation (BPC) and otherwise leads to a discontinuation of the offender's paper periodicals subscriptions.
A scheme of public/private agreements led to the establishment of a tax on delivery of periodicals that could be collected on behalf of the publicly-funded local periodicals distribution systems. After a history of the DPSMR and DPSMI working together to successfully collect and distribute revenue from the Receiver License, those two governmental agencies approached a coalition of local periodicals distributions syndicates to negotiate the collection of a tax on delivery that would in turn provide the public funding for these distribution systems. This funding had until this time been inadequate and unreliable on the local level. The agreement established these local distribution systems as public utilities, provided them reliable funding, and solidified a taxation system to further ensure the future of public service media electronically and by print.