[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 41 (Thursday, April 2, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E570-E571]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THE TELEPHONE EXCISE TAX REPEAL BILL

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. W.J. (BILLY) TAUZIN

                              of louisiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 1, 1998

  Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in support of the 
Telephone Excise Tax Repeal bill.
  Members of the House--if there is one thing that we politicians are 
experts on, it is talking. Talking on the telephone is not a fit 
subject for taxes. My word, if there is at least one thing an American 
ought to be able to do for free--without paying a tax to the 
Government--it is talking. It is time to repeal the tax on talking.
  Under current law, Americans who use local telephone service, toll 
telephone service, or teletypewriter exchange service--in short, just 
about every American who uses a telephone--pays an excise tax for using 
that telephone service. The law requires the phone companies to figure 
out your phone bill, and then tack on an extra 3 percent to the bill. 
The Federal Government takes the 3 percent. You can go look at your 
monthly phone bill, and--right there--you will see what the Federal 
Government has taken from you because you used your telephone.
  For all of you who have advocated higher taxes on tobacco as a public 
health measure, you ought to be amazed that--here in the land of free 
speech and the hallowed First Amendment--we tax talking on the 
telephone more than we tax tobacco. I suppose that means that Congress 
thinks talking is a greater risk to the public than smoking.
  Americans should not have to pay a tax to the Federal Government for 
the privilege of calling their neighbors to chat, or of talking to Mom 
on Mother's Day or Dad on Father's Day. Our businesses and their 
customers should be able to talk to each other without sending money to 
the Federal Government because of it. Telephone service in America 
today is a basic necessity, a part of daily life.
  Congress knows the phone tax is an unreasonable tax. It started out 
as a war tax many, many decades ago. Maybe it made sense at the time, 
but it doesn't any more. Congress knows this is a dumb tax, and that's 
why Congress has voted to repeal it several times before. Congress 
enacted a law that established a schedule for this tax to expire in the 
1970's. But the Federal Government later wanted more revenue so it 
changed the law and kept the tax. In the 1980's, Congress again passed 
a law that provided for this tax to expire, and again thereafter 
changed the law because the Federal Government wanted more revenue. Yet 
again, Congress passed a law scheduling this tax to expire in the 
1990's, but then changed the law to keep the tax. Congress knows this 
is a bad tax--that's why it has voted to repeal this tax so many times, 
just to let it live when a quick fix of revenue was needed to float a 
huge deficit.
  It is time to bury this phone tax once and for all. By repealing this 
tax, we put the money of Americans back into the pockets of Americans--
every American who uses a telephone. We eliminate a highly regressive 
tax that hits lower-income people proportionately harder than others.
  For every American who uses a telephone, this legislation cuts your 
taxes and cuts your phone bill.

[[Page E571]]

  I urge my colleagues to support the legislation.

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