Top 5 Contact Center Links: Schumer’s outsourcing tax

by Heidi Miller, Chief Conversation Officer

New York Senator Charles Schumer has proposed a tax designed to discourage contact center outsourcing. Calls transferred outside the country would be subject to a 25-cent tax, and companies would be required to inform the caller to which country the call is being transferred.

“English speaking workers, whether they are in Indonesia, Canada, the
Philippines, South Africa, are willing to work longer hours for lower
wages and as a result Americans lose their jobs,” Schumer said.

Business analysts, call center customers, tax experts and everyday citizens are weighing in on both sides of the debate. Questions and comments range from “would this tax even effectively facilitate what it is designed to accomplish?” to “will this tax affect the quality of customer service available from my favorite service provider?”

Addressing those questions, this week’s top commentaries on the proposed tax:

• Connected Planet’s Susana Schwartz questions whether the proposed tax is just “potential ploy to make more money for the state,” but also acknowledges it “resonates well with the message of “localization” for boosting job markets” and sees a potential benefit of improved customer service
• TaxGirl points out the potential for improved customer protection, including for credit card numbers and other secure information that isn’t as well regulated overseas
• Too complex to administrate and implement TMCNet’s Patrick Barnard considers the practical implementation of such a tax, considering it “might be too complex and expensive for the federal government to administrate”
• NetworkWorld’s Stephanie Overby’s review pinpoints problems with the proposed tax, citing outsourcing analyst Phil Ferscht: “It sounds like a huge waste of public money and resources. The
  government would be better off investing those funds in helping U.S.
  business set up onshore.”
• Why fining companies for outsourcing call center jobs might not work cites economists’ predictions that companies will simply maintain the outsourcing practice and pass the increased costs on to consumers

Where do you stand on the proposed 25-cent tax for contact center calls
transferred to other countries? Would it be effective in discouraging
outsourcing, and what would the ramifications be for enterprise and for
the consumer–better customer service or worse?