The Dreaded Phone Tax Hasn’t Been Totally Repealed, and Could Even Come Back in a Bigger Form
According to a Tuesday Wall Street Journal editorial (subscription required), part of the tax still remains, and it could morph into a more comprehensive tax someday:
The IRS will continue to collect the tax on local calls, but Mr. Snow to his credit did express support for the idea of Congress passing legislation to repeal the tax entirely.
That would be the best outcome, and not just because a future administration might opt to begin collecting the tax again and restart the court battles. Another argument for full repeal is that so long as the tax exists, so will the political temptation to expand its scope and turn it into yet another revenue stream for the federal till. A Joint Tax Committee report issued last year suggested extending the excise tax to “all data communication services,” including cable modems, cellular and DSL Internet connections.
These taxes have more lives than Jason in those Friday the 13th movies. Congress should nuke the telephone tax, including the local amount still being collected, and send it to the House of Horrors museum for future lawmakers to ponder (including the dingalings at the EU who are considering taxing e-mails and instant messages) before they create any new form of taxation.
[…] ur listings for some time now - with marginal results. Are we just ahead of the curve? The 108-year-old phone tax may yet have life. Technorati Tags: charlalbemarle, podcast This e […]
Pingback by Real Central VA - Tracking the Charlottesville and Central VA real estate market and more » Morning links June 1 2006 — June 1, 2006 @ 3:47 pm
Bust my bubble why don’t ya! :)
Can’t we repeal just one little tax? Just a teensy one?
Comment by Steven J. Kelso Sr. — June 1, 2006 @ 5:30 pm
A ‘Temporary’ Tax Has Died!
Can’t we eliminate just one, teensy little tax? Come on, you can do it. It won’t hurt.
Trackback by A Face Made 4 Radio, A Voice Made 4 the Internet — June 1, 2006 @ 5:38 pm