Thursday, a long legal battle over an outdated tax finally resulted in what is being called a huge "win" for consumers.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