Political Quotes

“today I rise to introduce the Wireless Tax Fairness Act and I am delighted and honored to be joined in this effort by Senators Snowe, Gillibrand, Ensign, Menendez, McCain, Burr, and Senator Nelson from Florida. I want to start with an interesting fact that I read a few months ago, which is that over 20 percent of Americans have gotten rid of their land line telephone service in favor of wireless mobile technology. Unfortunately, as more and more people make this shift, they are being forced to pay higher and higher state and local taxes for their wireless service. Since 2007 the average wireless tax rate consumers have to pay rose by 1.1 percentage points, from 15.2 percent to 16.3 percent. At a time when the Federal Government is trying to improve consumer access to developing technologies and broadband Internet in particular, does it make sense to have local, state, and Federal Governments forcing higher taxes on them? The answer is no, especially as 3G and 4G emerge as dominant wireless technologies. These taxes only act to hurt consumers, stifle innovation in the wireless industry, and restrict access to the Internet. In order to make sure that wireless technology can continue to flourish I am introducing the Wireless Tax Fairness Act.”