108-Year-Old Phone Call Tax Repealed

May 26 2006, 5:00am CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Thursday, a long legal battle over an outdated tax finally resulted in what is being called a huge "win" for consumers. You may not know it by its name, but you are most likely paying a Federal Excise Tax on your wireless phone bill, which you will not be paying for much longer. The Treasury Department recently decided, at the outcome of a long-running legal debate, to get rid of the tax.

Believe it or not, this tax was originally imposed in 1898, meant to tax only the wealthy people who could actually afford a telephone. And it just happened to stick around through the years, which became a real pain when the wireless phone revolution happened.More information about the history of this interesting tax is available at mywireless.org, the site that was most active in its repealing.

Report Published by: Mark Raby

where to buy

Buy from Amazon

What Others Say about This

Update: Verizon Home Phone Connect redux

Has anyone confirmed that the new box truly supports incoming Caller ID *name* ? There seems to be conflicting info on this issue. If it is true, the F256 would be the first and only CDMA device on VZW's network to have real Caller ID *name* support (all ...
Full article at: Phone Arena More like this 46 minutes ago

“Air horns must be removed from mofussil, mini buses”

Erring autorickshaw drivers were fined on the spot and mini buses and mofussil buses instructed to remove air horns here on Monday. In a surprise drive conducted by Transport Department officials near Uthangudi and other places, Rs 7,200 was realised as ...
Full article at: The Hindu More like this 55 minutes ago

Athens mayhem raises fears of Greek social explosion

Trade union leader Ilias Iliopoulos condemned the mayhem in which buildings burned across Athens as parliament debated new budget cuts but said the government had to listen to the people. “People sent a message yesterday: Enough is enough! They can’t tak ...
Full article at: Times Live South Africa More like this 58 minutes ago

Don't miss ...

Mobile Phones

4 Million iPhone 4S sold in First Weekend

Luigi Lugmayr
Luigi is the founding chief Editor of I4U News and brings over 15 years experience in the technology field to the ever evolving and exciting world of gadgets. He started I4U News back in 2000 and evolved it into vibrant technology magazine.
Luigi can be contacted directly at ml@i4u.com. Luigi posts regularly on LuigiMe.com about his experience running I4U.