An anonymous reader writes: A Schererville man is looking to start a class-action lawsuit against AT&T for charging taxes on Internet access, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Hammond, Ind.
Martin Hoke claims in his lawsuit that he has a cell phone plan with AT&T that includes Internet access through his smart phone. The Internet access is billed as a separate fee from the rest of his plan, the lawsuit says, which is taxed along with the other fees on his bill.
However, according to the lawsuit, the federal Tax Freedom Act bars governments from taxing access to the Internet, meaning AT&T shouldn't tax that portion of Hoke's bill. The lawsuit claims that AT&T also breached their contract, violated the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act and unjustly enriched itself.
Hoke is seeking to open his lawsuit to anyone in Indiana with an Internet access plan — whether through a cell phone or data card for computers — from AT&T and were charged taxes. He claims in the lawsuit that damages exceed $5 million. He is seeking for all tax money not sent to governments to be returned to consumers and for the federal court to order AT&T to stop collecting the taxes, according to the lawsuit.
