Digital Lifescapes

Dow Jones reports that the brief Spanish-American War ended more than a century ago, but not the federal tax assessed to fund the victory. Until now. The U.S. Treasury said it would stop collecting the 3 percent 'federal excise tax' on long-distance calls, a fee originally assessed in 1898. The government also said it will issue refunds 'requested' by consumers and businesses that paid the fee over the past three years. Taxpayers will be able to request refunds when they file 2006 tax returns in early 2007. The tax, which generates more than $6 billion annually, has survived repeated efforts to eliminate it. For decades, all telecom service providers (phone companies like AT&T) have been required to collect the excise fee from customers and pass it on to the federal government. Yet some large corporations such as Hewlett Packard successfully sued to get rid of the tax, claiming it was illegal. Others have won large refunds from the IRS. However, the average Am...

Who is Deborah Tate? That's a question that many people in the telecom sector will be asking in the coming weeks. Nominated by the Bush administration to replace an exiting FCC commissioner, we should all be concerned. Why? From 1979 to 1985, she was on the senior staff and as assistant legal counsel to then Governor Lamar Alexander. Fast forward to January 2004, now Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist became famous for their unrelenting attempts to apply a new tax to internet access services. A month later, when that effort failed to gain enough support, Senator Alexander said he instead wanted to increase the federal excise tax on telecom services. "Congress should raise the federal excise tax from 3 percent to 4 percent," said Alexander at that time. Senator John McCain of Arizona had previously made the case to end the Federal Excise tax, but was unable to gain enough support for the bill. Note, many democrats and republicans se...