Thursday, July 20, 2006

Do you want more tax relief on your phone bill?

It seems like there sure are a lot of taxes these days. Not just the annual income tax and sales taxes we pay on a daily basis. I'm talking about the other taxes that get thrown in to just about everything else you do or use every day. One of those things is cell phone service. At the end of May, we got a little relief when the 3% Federal Excise Tax (the Spanish-American War Tax) was repealed. Now we have another great opportunity to chip away at other unfair taxes being levied to use our phones. The Senate is currently debating a bill that could suspend new taxes on wireless telephone services for three years. I know, I wish it would abolish said taxes, but unfortunately this is a marathon not a sprint. This is a step in the right direction.

Mywireless.org summarizes the situation as such:

With your support of the Senate communications bill, one consistent national policy for wireless services can become a reality. Right now, each of the 50 states can govern wireless 50 different ways. Since wireless doesn't recognize state borders, the hundreds of state taxes, laws and regulations in states and cities across the country are creating a confusing tangle for consumers. The result is less innovation, fewer choices among services and providers, and higher prices.

Along with the threat of unnecessary and inconsistent state by state rules, is the reality that consumers face unfair and excessive state and local taxes and fees on their wireless services. In fact, some states impose wireless taxes at double the rate of other goods and services. The Senate communications bill will put a 3-year freeze on new, discriminatory state and local wireless taxes.


They also provide easy to use links to contact your Senators. We do have the power. We succeeded in repealing the Federal Excise Tax and we too can succeed in freezing new taxes on wireless. Please write to your Senators and tell them you've had enough of exorbitant and inconsistent wireless phone taxes!

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