This has been posted before--and also the fact that there is NO SUCH law
firm and NO SUCH PERSONS was stated in the "hoax" website.   It is
definitely NOT true. Please check before sending these things!

SEE BELOW the item from the website that discredits it:


                                                         Sun, Jun 13, 1999

           David Emery - your About.com Guide to:
           Urban Legends and Folklore

 archive of legends & netlore:
 U.S. Postal Tax on Email?

 Posted: 05/22/99

 Here's an item straight out of the hoax recycling bin. A "new" email
forward claims that the
 U.S. Postal Service is attempting to levy a 5-cent surcharge on every
email delivered within the
 United States.

 Funny thing is, a virtually identical message circulating one month ago
claimed that the same
 thing was about to happen in Canada.

 False, in both cases (see comments below).

     Subject: E-MAIL SURCHARGE

     Dear Internet Subscriber:

     Please read the following carefully if you intend to stay online
     and continue using email: The last few months have revealed an
     alarming trend in the Government of the United States attempting
     to quietly push through legislation that will affect your use of
     the Internet. Under proposed legislation the U.S. Postal Service
     will be attempting to bilk email users out of "alternate postage
     fees". Bill 602P will permit the Federal Govt to charge a 5 cent
     surcharge on every email delivered, by billing Internet Service
     Providers at source. The consumer would then be billed in turn by
     the ISP. Washington D.C. lawyer Richard Stepp is working without
     pay to prevent this legislation from becoming law.

     The U.S. Postal Service is claiming that lost revenue due to the
     proliferation of email is costing nearly $230,000,000 in revenue
     per year. You may have noticed their recent ad campaign "There is
     nothing like a letter". Since the average citizen received about
     10 pieces of email per day in 1998, the cost to the typical
     individual would be an additional 50 cents per day, or over $180
     dollars per year, above and beyond their regular Internet costs.
     Note that this would be money paid directly to the U.S. Postal
     Service for a service they do not even provide. The whole point of
     the Internet is democracy and non-interference. If the federal
     government is permitted to tamper with our liberties by adding a
     surcharge to email, who knows where it will end. You are already
     paying an exorbitant price for snail mail because of bureacratic
     efficiency. It currently takes up to 6 days for a letter to be
     delivered from New York to Buffalo. If the U.S. Postal Service is
     allowed to tinker with email, it will mark the end of the "free"
     Internet in the United States. One congressman, Tony Schnell (r)
     has even suggested a "twenty to forty dollar per month surcharge
     on all Internet service" above and beyond the government's
     proposed email charges. Note that most of the major newspapers
     have ignored the story, the only exception being the Washingtonian
     which called the idea of email surcharge "a useful concept who's
     time has come" March 6th 1999 Editorial) Don't sit by and watch
     your freedoms erode away!

     Send this email to all Americans on your list and tell your
     friends and relatives to write to their congressman and say "No!"
     to Bill 602P.

     Kate Turner Assistant to Richard Stepp, Berger, Stepp and Gorman
     Attorneys at Law 216 Concorde Street, Vienna, Va.


 Guide's note:  Compare the above to the Canadian version of one month ago.
Someone has
 simply taken that hoax and "localized" it by replacing Canadian references
with U.S.
 equivalents. No points for cleverness or originality on this one.

 Here's an excerpt from the U.S. Postal Service's response:

        A completely false rumor concerning the U.S. Postal Service is being
        circulated over the Internet via e-mail.

        The e-mail message claims that a "Congressman Schnell" has
introduced "Bill
        602P" to allow the federal government to impose a 5-cent surcharge
on each
        e-mail message delivered over the Internet. The money would be
collected by
        Internet Service Providers and then turned over to the Postal Service.

        No such proposed legislation exists. In fact, no "Congressman
Schnell" exists.

 Roy Betts, manager of media relations for the Postal Service,
 set the record straight for reporters: "It's obviously a hoax."

 Er... evidently not so obvious to everyone who's forwarded
 the email alert. Rumors of rate hikes or surcharges for Internet
 access, no matter how preposterous, never fail to generate
 hysteria among rank and file users. Witness the furor over the
 similar 'modem tax' legend of a decade ago, or the more recent
 long distance access charge rumors that have resulted in the
 FCC's offices being swamped with protests for the past couple
 of years.


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Camilla Flintermann, CG for Peter 81/70/55
Oxford, Ohio
http://www.newcountry.nu/pd/members/camilla/one.htm
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