Nix 107-year-old Phone Tax

Grover Norquist and his Americans for Tax Reform are backing an effort to abolish a "temporary" tax on telephones imposed to help fund the Spanish-American War.

"Repealing the Spanish-American War tax is long overdue," said Norquist, president of the anti-tax advocacy group.

"We've been stealing money from telephone users for 107 years to fund a war it took us four months to win. Getting rid of this relic is a major priority of the taxpayer movement."

The Congress passed a law in 1898 imposing a 3 percent tax on every telephone in the country.

At the time there were only 1,300 phones in the U.S., and only a wealthy few could afford phone service, so the levy was considered a luxury tax.

It was aimed at offsetting the cost of the $250 million war against Spain, and in the words of the Revenue to Meet War Expenditures Act, would "be naturally repealed or modified when the [necessities] of war and the payment of war expenses have ceased."

Yet more than a century later, the tax remains in effect, bringing in at least $3 billion a year.

Congress voted to repeal the tax in 2000, but President Bill Clinton vetoed the measure.

Now Rep. Gary Miller, R-Calif.,) has introduced a new bill to ax the tax.

The Americans for Tax Reform Web site is urging the group's supporters to take action, encouraging them to send an e mail to their elected officials demanding an end to the tax.

The Web site (atr.org) says the tax is "highly regressive, as it amounts to a greater share of the income of low-income Americans, minorities and senior citizens."

Norquist's group also says the tax "has strangled the telecommunications industry for a century, stifling innovation and keeping prices high."

ATR urges, "Tell your Congressman and Senators to support a repeal of the Spanish-American War tax!"