Telecom Taxes Have Run Amok April 30, 2008 William Ahern William Ahern In testimony before the governor’s tax commission in Jackson, Mississippi, experts from the Pew Charitable Trust and the Tax Foundation agreed that taxes on phone companies are a terrible burden on the companies and their customers. Every new service the hyper-competitive phone companies offer spawns a new tax that is grafted onto old taxes left over from when Ma Bell was our one monopoly phone company. Just today we received a plea for help from the manager of a new hotel who is desperately trying to figure out what her hotel’s phone bill is going to be like. She drew up a chart of tax rates that she needs to fill in. TAXES City State Federal Other1 Other2 Local ____% ____% ____% ____% ____% 950 ____% ____% ____% ____% ____% 976 ____% ____% ____% ____% ____% 411 Info ____% ____% ____% ____% ____% 555 Info ____% ____% ____% ____% ____% 1-700 ____% ____% ____% ____% ____% 1-800 ____% ____% ____% ____% ____% 1-900 ____% ____% ____% ____% ____% (0+) ____% ____% ____% ____% ____% Message Unit ____% ____% ____% ____% ____% In-state ____% ____% ____% ____% ____% State-to-state ____% ____% ____% ____% ____% International ____% ____% ____% ____% ____% HOBIC ____% ____% ____% ____% ____% Equipment ____% ____% ____% ____% ____% Those “other” columns could be school districts or some other regional tax authority, legal entities created by state or local politicians who have delegated the power to tax so that they can avoid voting on a tax hike. More on cell phone taxes here. Stay informed on the tax policies impacting you. Subscribe to get insights from our trusted experts delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe Share Tweet Share Email Topics Center for State Tax Policy Excise Taxes
