Do people realize that they have been paying a "temporary" Federal tax on their phone bills -- for more than a century? Well, we have, as you will note from an edition of The Wall Street Journal a few days ago:
"The Spanish-American War was fought in 1898 and lasted less than eight months, but Americans still pay an excise tax on phone service that was imposed to finance it. Last week, a mere 108 years after the end of that conflict, the Bush Administration moved to terminate the levy. Its duration is something to keep in mind the next time you hear a politician call for a 'temporary' tax."
And wouldn't you know! What is one of the biggest proposals right now in Congress? To enact a (supposedly) "temporary" tax on gasoline! The members of Congress who are floating this foolish idea not only fail to ignore how hard it is to get rid of a "temporary" tax once enacted - but they also seem to be blissfully ignorant that if such a tax is enacted, it will be passed on to us, the consumers, like all business costs are by all businesses.
Sincerely,
Jeff Hanson
302 Main St.
Truth or Consequences, NM 87902
Editor's Comment:
Thanks for the post, Jeff.
I once heard the income tax was enacted as just such a "temporary tax" during the first World War. I'm not sure whether that's true or not, but I'll bet one of our readers knows. The important question is where do our Congressmen and Senators stand on the issue? Does anyone happen to know whether they're for or against the repeal of this "Temporary Telephone Excise Tax"? - Ed
Note To Mr Hanson: We realize you included your email address with your post. We removed it deliberately because it is our policy to never knowingly publish any visitor's email address "in the clear" on our site. We do that to protect members and visitors from email address-harvesting spam-spiders that crawl sites like this constantly looking for email addresses to add to their email spam lists. In short, we did it in an effort to protect you from receiving unwanted and unsolicited junk emails as a result of your posting here. Besides, FYI, the way our editorial section works, any reader who is inclined to reply to your post can easily do so right here on our site. (Notice the ""Post Reply]" on the right below.)
Dear Editor:
Do people realize that they have been paying a "temporary" Federal tax on their phone bills -- for more than a century? Well, we have, as you will note from an edition of The Wall Street Journal a few days ago:
"The Spanish-American War was fought in 1898 and lasted less than eight months, but Americans still pay an excise tax on phone service that was imposed to finance it. Last week, a mere 108 years after the end of that conflict, the Bush Administration moved to terminate the levy. Its duration is something to keep in mind the next time you hear a politician call for a 'temporary' tax."
And wouldn't you know! What is one of the biggest proposals right now in Congress? To enact a (supposedly) "temporary" tax on gasoline! The members of Congress who are floating this foolish idea not only fail to ignore how hard it is to get rid of a "temporary" tax once enacted - but they also seem to be blissfully ignorant that if such a tax is enacted, it will be passed on to us, the consumers, like all business costs are by all businesses.
Sincerely,
Jeff Hanson
302 Main St.
Truth or Consequences, NM 87902
Editor's Comment:
Thanks for the post, Jeff.
I once heard the income tax was enacted as just such a "temporary tax" during the first World War. I'm not sure whether that's true or not, but I'll bet one of our readers knows. The important question is where do our Congressmen and Senators stand on the issue? Does anyone happen to know whether they're for or against the repeal of this "Temporary Telephone Excise Tax"? - Ed
Note To Mr Hanson: We realize you included your email address with your post. We removed it deliberately because it is our policy to never knowingly publish any visitor's email address "in the clear" on our site. We do that to protect members and visitors from email address-harvesting spam-spiders that crawl sites like this constantly looking for email addresses to add to their email spam lists. In short, we did it in an effort to protect you from receiving unwanted and unsolicited junk emails as a result of your posting here. Besides, FYI, the way our editorial section works, any reader who is inclined to reply to your post can easily do so right here on our site. (Notice the ""Post Reply]" on the right below.)