Citing impossibility of continued enforcement in Internet age, Se...
Citing impossibility of continued enforcement in Internet age, Senate Finance Committee Chmn. Grassley (R-Ia.) introduced latest effort (S-234) to repeal 3% phone excise tax. Similar bill cleared House easily last year and then was rolled into appropriations bill that…
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was vetoed by President Clinton. President Bush has stated his desire to repeal excise tax, so measure is seen to have a good chance of passage this year. Biggest hurdle, which was cited by Clinton in his veto message last year, is finding budget offsets for estimated $5-$6 billion Treasury would lose. Grassley said excise tax already was causing controversy because it was hard to classify technologies such as DSL lines, which are phone lines but provide data (traditionally not taxed) as well as voice connections. “Should the whole line be tax free?” Grassley asked. “And what will we do when cable, wireless and satellite companies provide voice and data communications over the same system? The burdensome complexity of today will only become more difficult.” He titled his bill Help Eliminate the Levy on Locution (HELLO) Act. Grassley introduced bill with 19 co-sponsors, including 5 of 10 Republicans on Finance Committee.