Long long ago, when there were wars going on here in the United States, the government had to find unique ways to fund the wars and military. During the Spanish American War, our government came up with this fantastic idea to come up with a tax to fund the war in 1898. Little did we know, the tax still exists today on our phone bills. I always thought that it was a legit tax on long distance phone calls, but its really been around THAT long. Recently, companies like HP and Radio Shack, that have racked up huge bills are now opposing the tax once again. Here is what that might mean to you.
There have been opponents in the past against this tax and it has always been denied legislation. Now, that the companies are trying to find every way possible to save money, it is important to fight this tax. The IRS has to win the lower circuit court cases to defend the tax and they have been unsuccessful. Once the failures start to stack up, this tax will be history. Once this tax is gone, this may mean a refund to you. But will it actually be worth it to try for the refund?
Here are some quick numbers. Last year the government pulled in 5.9 billion in revenue from that tax and it will gain about 25.9 billion from 2006 to 2010. Congress passed a bill in 2000 to rid the country of this tax, but Slick Willy (Bill Clinton) vetoed it. Those numbers are quite staggering. Now should you claim some of that back for yourself? Not unless you have proof that you have paid out that excise tax (i.e. old phone bill receipts).
A $20 long distance bill will net you about $0.60 cents in a month, now let’s say you have 3 years worth of bills. You only have about $22 dollars. Now would that really be worth your time to get a refund? Who has all their old phone bills anyway? The rule with utility bills is to keep them about 6 months, just in case you need to show that you live at a residence or to prove income or identity. If 22 bucks is really worth it to you, then do it. Personally, I’ll just cancel my Netflix subscription.
Via CNN Money
Blair Says:
May 3rd, 2006 at 7:10 pmVisit Blair
Yeah, who cares. Taxes are taxes. If you didn’t mind paying it cause it was a phone tax then why do you care now that you know its an old bs tax. Long distance is becoming a thing of the past – hell I don’t even own a land line. If you want to oppose taxes, worry about gas or something where we get more fleeced. I say if the money goes to the right cause (ie getting out of debt – see clinton… not funding some bs war) and is not unreasonable (60 cents on 20 long distance doesn’t seem that bad) I say quit worring about old news. What you all should care about are the NEW ways they are trying to get us to pay for the current bs war, not one from 2 centuries ago!