[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 65 (Tuesday, May 23, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H3534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         REPEAL TAX ON TALKING

  (Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, in 1898 the Federal tax on 
telephone service, the tax on talking, was first levied as a temporary 
measure to fund the Spanish-American War. That war lasted only a few 
months, and yet the taxes lasted for over a hundred years.
  Unfortunately, in 1990 a Democratic-controlled Congress made it 
permanent, which just goes to show us one thing about Washington: once 
there is a tax on the books, it is almost impossible to get rid of it.
  But this week we are going to achieve the impossible. We are going to 
get rid of this Federal telephone tax once and for all. This will 
provide tax relief to the nearly 95 percent of American households who 
have telephone service, and it will help keep the Internet free from 
direct taxation.
  Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders fought valiantly in the Spanish-
American War, but we have long since cleared the ledger on that 
victory. It is a hundred years later and way past time to repeal this 
outdated tax on working Americans.

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