Senate Bill sb1240

    Florida Senate - 2006                                  SM 1240

    By Senator Haridopolos





    26-700-06

  1                         Senate Memorial

  2         A memorial to the Congress of the United

  3         States, urging Congress to repeal the federal

  4         excise tax on telephone and other

  5         communications services.

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  7         WHEREAS, the federal telephone excise tax was

  8  instituted in 1898 during the Spanish-American War to help

  9  finance the military conflict with Spain, and

10         WHEREAS, at that time, the tax was in the amount of 1

11  cent per telephone call and was designed as a luxury tax that

12  would affect only the wealthiest of Americans, and

13         WHEREAS, although the Spanish-American War continued

14  for only a few months, the telephone excise tax continues to

15  be levied today and has increased to a total of 3 percent of

16  the consumer's telephone bill, including call waiting, caller

17  ID, local toll charges, long-distance charges, wireless

18  services, and directory assistance, and

19         WHEREAS, in the year 2000, the United States Congress

20  attempted to repeal this tax, but President Clinton vetoed the

21  legislation, and

22         WHEREAS, the telephone excise tax is no longer a luxury

23  tax, since nearly everyone in the United States has a

24  telephone, and

25         WHEREAS, since the tax is levied at a fixed percent of

26  the cost of telecommunications services, it is a regressive

27  tax, because lower-income individuals spend a higher

28  percentage of their wages on this tax than do higher-income

29  individuals, and

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    Florida Senate - 2006                                  SM 1240
    26-700-06




 1         WHEREAS, the tax is also an "invisible" tax, in that it

 2  is collected by the telephone companies rather than by the

 3  government, NOW, THEREFORE,

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 5  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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 7         That the Congress of the United States is requested to

 8  repeal the federal excise tax on telephone and other

 9  communications services, by passing Senate Bill 1321,

10  sponsored by Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania), House

11  Resolution 1898, sponsored by Representative Gary Miller

12  (R-California), each of which is entitled the "Telephone

13  Excise Tax Repeal Act of 2005," or similar legislation.

14         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

15  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the

16  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the

17  United States House of Representatives, and to each member of

18  the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.