Refund of Long-Distance Telephone Taxes

pertelote writes "Over 108 years after financing the Spanish American War, the tax on long-distance phone calls is finally being repealed. The IRS is supposed to refund our last three years worth of taxes for both landlines and cell phones on our returns next year. The phone companies sued because they did not want the hassle of collecting the tax. The tax is no longer in effect on 31 July, 2006." Don't get too excited about a big windfall. From the article: "Consumers, who pay about 40 percent of the taxes collected, typically pay about $18 a year in excise taxes if they have a long-distance service and a cellphone. They will be able to file for a refund on their 2006 federal income tax returns."

If it were private industry

[Tweekster]

This would be a clear cut case of fraud. Since the tax was imposed for a specific reason and obviously has not been used for that in the last 100 years or so, someone should go after the Federal Govt for fraud. Now that would be interesting.

It isnt that far fetched either, say your local community imposed an extra $20 on property taxes to be used for technology in schools and in reality it was used to buy a new Benz as a "govt vehicle" for the mayor, there would be significant problems.

It will stay on phone bills

[pete6677]

What do you bet the tax stays on your phone bill anyway? It is a well-known fact that phone companies attach all sorts of fees disguised as taxes, some of which actually go into their own pockets. So their costs will be lowered, but for phone customers its just another day.

Re:Photo Op?

[arivanov]

Neah... Forget it...

After all his clone on this side of the pond did not bother getting on board of the HMS Illustrious to declare the end of the Great War with Germany finally over on the 24th November 2005.

For the humour and history defficient out there:

1. Britain introduced drinking establishment licensing laws to improve the quality of ammunition shipped to the German front in WWI and minimise the number of workers showing up to work incapacitated. Hurray for the war effort against the great enemy, hurray, hurray
2. These laws stayed in force till 24th November 2005
3. When the changes of the laws were discussed and introduced every single idiot neocon in the country was prophessing that the world will end on 24th November 2005 or soon thereafter. It is still there and still as boring as it was.

And do not even get me started on income tax and napoleonic wars...

The Nature of Taxes

[geoffrobinson]

The only reason this is getting appealed is because it was originally for the Spanish American War (Remember the Maine!). It was a humourous enough example to get someone in Congress to actually repeal this tax.

Generally, taxes never die. So be very cautious about adding a new one.

Pennsylvania still has the "Jonestown Flood Tax". A 18% excise tax on alcohol meant to raise funds for the flood that occured in 1889 or something like that.

Re:Photo Op?

[artifex2004]

Is the president going to play dress-up, get into an air force uniform, land on an air craft carrier near the Straight of Gibraltar and declare the Spanish American War finally over?

Don't even joke about that, as part of his constituency believes the U.S. is being invaded by "reconquistadors."
Not to mention that it's a lot easier to ship people to Guantanamo from Mexico. Oh, he'd probably use that as an excuse to try to "liberate" Havana, like in 1898. Cuba was the only Spanish colony in the area that we didn't take over and declare a U.S. Territory, after the original war's end. So we have to go back, and make democracy safe from exploding cigars.

Re:there's no temproary tax or program

[Kadin2048]

Actually all emergency legislation should have expiration dates on it. I.e., anything that's done as a kneejerk response to some particular event: school shootings, 9/11, whatever. Anything made that way ought to have an automatic expiration date associated with it, so that it can be evaluated by clearer minds, further down the road.

I think some sort of system which had two paths for legislation would be good. An "emergency path" that required less votes to close down debate, but could only produce laws valid for the remainder of that legislative body's term, or a "standard path" that required a supermajority that could produce laws that have no expiration date.

Laws produced in response to particular catastrophic events are generally some of the worst legal constructs we have, and are almost always plagued with unintended consequences. While to me this seems like it ought to be obvious (using the legal system to solve or react to a particular social problem is like using a Minuteman III to kill a fly), Congress too often falls into the trap of just "doing something" because they want to justify their paychecks, and they deepen the legal morass that we're in as a nation.

Re:Photo Op?

[TheGreek]

Is the president going to play dress-up, get into an air force uniform, land on an air craft carrier near the Straight of Gibraltar and declare the Spanish American War finally over?

I wouldn't call it "over" just yet [wikipedia.org].

Re:Suspicious Vonage Bill

[plague3106]

Vonage chared that 3% fee even when my first month of service was free.

I tried to explain that $0 * 3% = 0. They didn't seem to understand.

The local phone tax is still there

[EaglesNest]

The big crime, the excise tax on local phone service that applies to every land line, is still there. I haven't used a land line to make long distance calls in years. But I still have a land line. Wake me up when I can save money by not paying the tax on it.

Re:Photo Op?

[Martin Blank]

While I realize that the 'reconquistadores' are a small minority, there really are those who believe that the American Southwest was stolen from Mexico and that it should and must be returned to Mexico. There's an even smaller minority within that group that believes that Aztlan -- comprised in their view of the American Southwest and roughly half of Mexico -- should be combined into its own nation separate from the USA and Mexico.

Is this fair?

[d_54321]

Great.
When the tax is instituted, you have to pay it or men with guns come to your home.

When the tax is repealed, you have to fill out a form to get your money back. That's fair.

Why not just repeal the whole damn thing and replace it with something that makes more sense [fairtax.org]?