HM 883

1	House Memorial
2	A memorial to the Congress of the United States urging
3	repeal of the federal excise tax on telecommunications.
4
5	WHEREAS, the federal excise tax on communications was
6	enacted in 1898 for the purpose of funding the Spanish-American
7	War, and
8	WHEREAS, the tax was introduced as a temporary luxury tax,
9	and
10	WHEREAS, telephone service is no longer a luxury, but
11	rather is a necessity for consumers of all income levels, and
12	WHEREAS, the federal excise tax is regressive, as low-
13	income Americans pay a higher percentage of their income for
14	telephone services than high-income Americans, and
15	WHEREAS, telecommunications services are the infrastructure
16	upon which new technologies including the Internet depend, and,
17	therefore, the telecommunications excise tax discourages
18	expansion of both the telephone infrastructure and new
19	technologies, and
20	WHEREAS, the federal excise tax on telecommunications flows
21	into the general fund rather than being earmarked for a specific
22	purpose, and
23	WHEREAS, Congress passed a repeal of the federal excise tax
24	on telecommunications in 2000, which was vetoed by President
25	William Jefferson Clinton, NOW, THEREFORE,
26
27	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
28
29	That the Congress of the United States is requested to
30	support a repeal of the federal excise tax on
31	telecommunications.
32	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
33	dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
34	President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
35	United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
36	the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

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