[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 65 (Thursday, April 30, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1042]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HANG UP ON THE TELEPHONE TAX

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. GERALD E. CONNOLLY

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 30, 2009

  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise to urge my colleagues 
to support the Telephone Excise Tax Repeal Act of 2009, which I 
introduced today along with Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania. The telephone 
tax is deceptive, archaic, unfair and regressive.
  This tax was first imposed in 1898 to fund U.S. involvement in the 
Spanish American War. That conflict is long over, and now elimination 
of this tax is long overdue. But it is not for want of trying.
  Similar pieces of legislation have won bipartisan support in previous 
sessions of Congress--127 cosponsors in the 110th Congress and 220 in 
the 109th Congress--but have routinely been stalled. Let's not let that 
happen again.
  I suspect many Americans would be surprised to learn that they are 
paying a three percent tax on their local telephone, toll, and teletype 
exchange services. As an excise tax, there is no direct payment made to 
the government; the tax is collected by the phone companies and 
remitted to the federal government.
  Although the amount is itemized on each phone bill, it is one of many 
taxes, fees and surcharges listed and can be easily overlooked on the 
multiple pages of an average telephone bill.
  With advances in technology, this tax has become punitive for those 
without the ability, financial means or desire to upgrade their 
telecommunications services. Cellular phone and long distance landline 
telephone services were exempted from the tax in 2006. Bundled services 
that do not differentiate between local and long distance services, 
such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, also are exempt. 
The only service still being subjected to this antiquated tax is local 
telephone service, which is the predominant means of communication used 
by the disabled, lower-income families and senior citizens.
  Eliminating this regressive tax would be consistent with the actions 
we already have taken so far in this Congress to provide hundreds of 
billions of dollars in tax relief to hard working Americans. I ask my 
colleagues to join us in hanging up on the telephone tax.

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