[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 65 (Tuesday, May 23, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H3533]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR TAX

  (Mr. HEFLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Speaker, the Federal Government is notorious for 
being cumbersome and slow to change. When it comes to making 
improvements in our 17,000-page Tax Code, this is particularly true.
  So it is no great surprise that there is a 102-year-old temporary tax 
law on the books which became obsolete less than a year after it became 
law. That is right, the Spanish-American War tax, which charges 
Americans a 3-percent excise tax on their phone line usage, was passed 
by Congress in 1898 to pay for the Spanish-American War.
  Well, the war is over, folks, but the tax is still with us. It is 
hurting 94 percent of Americans who use phone lines either for personal 
or business use.
  Why has it not changed? It has not changed because of the insatiable 
appetite of Government for every single tax dollar it can get its hands 
on.
  This is wrong. Congress needs to disconnect the American people from 
the outdated Spanish-American War tax.

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