Political Quotes

“I rise to introduce the Telephone Excise Tax Repeal Act of 2005, a bill that would abolish a tax that is severely outdated. The telephone excise tax originated on long distance service under the Spanish American War Act of 1898. At that time, only the wealthy had telephones, the U.S. had no income tax, and the country relied on excise taxes to fund the war. However, you would not know the intent of this tax by looking at your phone bill. The charge on your phone bill doesn't say ``luxury tax'' or ``war tax.'' So why does this tax still exist? Although created to cover war expenses in 1898, the revenue from the telephone excise tax goes into the general receipts of the U.S. Treasury and is not earmarked for any particular government function or service. From its inception, the federal telephone excise tax was repeatedly imposed on a temporary basis. However since 1932, the tax has continuously been imposed. This tax has been scheduled to expire-- partially or completely--at least 17 different times. In 1990, and just before the tax was set to expire, Congress made the tax permanent at 3 percent of local and long distance services.…”