Telecom tax partially withdrawn


An 1898 tax is finally partially lifted
Good news! Taxes aren't as certain as they once were. Marguerite Reardon tells us about it.

The Spanish-American War has been over for more than 100 years, and now so is the tax imposed in 1898 to help fund it.

As of Tuesday, all phone companies selling long-distance phone service are legally required to eliminate the 3 percent federal excise tax on long-distance service, which had been established in 1898 as a luxury tax on wealthy Americans who owned telephones.

Two bits of bad news though. First, the local portion of the tax still applies.

Second is this paragraph from a little later in the article. Emphasis added, but the link was in the original.

After a long legal battle and strong urging from Congress, the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of the Treasury decided in May to discontinue the federal 3 percent excise tax on long-distance telephone service effective Aug. 1.

"Strong urging from Congress?" Don't the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of the Treasury answer to the Congress? Since when are the bureaucrats running the show instead of the Congress?

Good reason to replace them all, I would say. Get rid of the politicos and the bureaucrats.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Wed - August 2, 2006 at 05:35 AM  Tag


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