CTIA, Verizon Talk Wireless Taxes

Both CTIA and Verizon are making noise about the taxes imposed on wireless services in the US. The biggest issue is the Federal Excise Tax (FET) which was introduced to help pay for the Spanish-American war, and the CTIA claims it “adds 3% to the monthly bill of every wireless user in America”. I’m unsure whether the tax is levied on the entire bill or just on phone calls — which still make up the vast bulk of the US carrier revenue anyway. Either way, eliminating the tax is sure to help the mobile content industry, if only slightly. It certainly wouldn’t hurt.
RCR gives some details to court decisions that the tax is illegal, at least for some calls.

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