WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon today criticized the Clinton-Gore administration's veto of a spending bill that included repeal of a 3 percent phone tax that was imposed in 1898 to fund the Spanish-American War.

"We declared victory over Spain a century ago, but we can't seem to declare victory over this antiquated tax," McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, said. "Thanks to the Clinton-Gore administration, Americans will still pay an additional 3 percent of their phone bill to the federal government."

The Clinton-Gore administration late Monday vetoed H.R. 4871, the FY 2001 Treasury-Postal Appropriations Act, which would fund the Department of Treasury, the Postal Service and other agencies for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, 2001. The legislation included repeal of a 3 percent telecommunications tax that was first imposed in 1898 to help fund the Spanish-American War.

"The Clinton-Gore administration has continued to insist we spend all the federal budget surplus for the Fiscal Year 2001 on new bureaucratic federal programs, rather than supporting the Republican Congress' 90-10 plan, in which 90 percent is dedicated to debt reduction and 10 percent for tax relief," McKeon said.

"The Clinton-Gore administration has vetoed relief from the marriage penalty and the death tax, and now it is resuming its war on American taxpayers by vetoing relief from an unneeded, century-old phone tax," McKeon said.

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