Better Late Than Never?
I know that our democracy is designed to move slowly, but this seems a bit ridiculous. From the April 14th Wall Street Journal:
The Treasury Department, following a series of hostile court rulings on the way it assesses the federal excise tax on phone service, is working on a plan to stop collecting the levy and refund billions of dollars to consumers and businesses, according to people familiar with the matter.
This is one of those taxes that many people probably don't realize they pay. In fact, I would bet even fewer people know that this tax was first instituted in the 1800's. The law was passed to help pay for the Spanish-American "war," and was put in place largely because phones were luxury items during that period. Even though the courts have said the tax must be eliminated, and even though Congress has killed it (at least) once, the tax still gets tacked onto your phone bill. From the same article:
When the tax was enacted in 1898, telephone service was something of a luxury and the levy affected relatively few Americans. As telecommunications expanded to become a fixture of modern life, the tax has become a steady revenue stream that administrations of both political parties have been loath to surrender. In 2000, Congress repealed the tax, at an estimated five-year cost of $24 billion. Former President Clinton vetoed the measure over budget concerns.
Maybe it will be stopped in time for its 110 year anniversary?
NM
April 26th, 2006 at 4:06 pm
My initial impression of this article was that it was a hoax. The first question that comes to mind, even though it is somewhat irrelevant, is exactly how much federal excise tax does the average American pay annually for phone service. Secondly, this sounds like something we might want to write our Congressmen about. Finally, with the price of gas, war, homeland security, hurricane recovery efforts, etc., our present administration would probably be extremely hesitant to cut any federal revenue, despite its absurdity. President Clinton, in my opinion, did not face near the challenges weighing on President Bush. Consequently, regardless of even massive vocal/written objection to this ridiculous taxation, I’m not getting my hopes up for any refund check any time soon.