Hanging up the phone tax.

The federal excise tax Excise Tax

1. An indirect tax charged on the sale of a particular good.

2. A penalty tax applied to ineligible transactions in retirement accounts. This penalty is assessed by and paid to the IRS.

Notes:
1. on long-distance phone calls, which began as part of the Spanish-American War Spanish-American War, 1898, brief conflict between Spain and the United States arising out of Spanish policies in Cuba. It was, to a large degree, brought about by the efforts of U.S. expansionists. effort in 1898, was repealed in May by the U.S. Treasury U.S. Treasury

Created in 1798, the United States Department of the Treasury is the government (Cabinet) department responsible for issuing all Treasury bonds, notes and bills. Some of the government branches operating under the U.S. Treasury umbrella include the IRS, U.S. Department. Thousands of war tax resisters have fused to pay the federal phone tax since the mid-1960s, P" when the tax was extended to assist military operations in Vietnam. The tax, which has varied from 1 to 10 percent, raised nearly $89 billion from 1966 to 2001 and $6 billion per year since, according to the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC — pronounced “new-trick”) is an American activist group that promotes tax resistance as a way to protest against and/or disassociate from war and militarism. .

"We're happy to see a regressive tax regressive tax

Tax levied at a rate that decreases as its base increases. Regressivity is considered undesirable because poorer people pay a greater percentage of their income in tax than wealthier people. end," Ruth Benn, of National War Tax Resistance, told Sojourners. "However, we know that this will have no immediate effect on military spending, which has been the focus of our war tax resistance campaigns." Taxpayers can file for refunds of the federal excise tax billed to them on all long-distance calls made after Feb" 28' 2003' The Senate is considering a bill that would repeal the federal excise tax on local phone calls as well.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Sojourners
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.

Reader Opinion

Article Details
Printer friendly Cite/link Email Feedback
Title Annotation:	Spanish American War, 1898
Publication:	Sojourners
Article Type:	Brief article
Geographic Code:	1USA
Date:	Dec 1, 2006
Words:	172
Previous Article:	"It's better to light a candle ...".(Lebanese Christians and Iranian Muslims )(Brief article)
Next Article:	Episcopal bishops still at crossroads.(ANGLICANS)(Brief article)
Topics:	Telephone Taxation Telephony Taxation United States history Military aspects War of 1898

Related Articles
The Mystery of the Maine.(history of the Spanish-American War, 1898)(Brief Article)
The Power of FORCE.(Brief Article)
War & remembrance: the U.S. and Mexico share a long, sometimes-troubled history that goes back to the Mexican-American War--which still resonates on...
The war party's playbook.(The Last Word)
BRIEFLY.(News)
Practice what you preach.(Tilting at Windmills)(advice for neoconservatives)(Brief Article)
Breaking the levy: an illegal phone tax.(excise tax on cell phone usage)(Brief article)
The federal government instituted a tax on long-distance phone calls to pay for the Spanish-American War.(The Week)(Brief article)
EDITORIAL HONEYMOON IS OVER.(Editorial)(Editorial)
Long-distance telephone excise tax refunds - 2006 tax returns affected.