(WASHINGTON, DC) Congressman Ciro D. Rodriguez joined his colleagues in the House of Representatives today to pass legislation which would repeal the 3% federal excise tax on telephones, first levied over 100 years ago to help finance the Spanish-American war.

"The 3% federal excise tax first levied to finance the Spanish-American War more than a century ago predates Theodore Roosevelt's charge on San Juan Hill. The problem is that the government is still charging. Enacted in 1898, the excise was considered a luxury tax because only 1,300 households could afford telephones. Today, roughly 94% of all U.S. households have telephone service and more than 30 million individuals have mobile phones."

The telephone tax repeal bill, HR 3916, would phase out the 3% federal tax on all telecommunications services by 1% each year, until it is eliminated entirely by the end of Fiscal Year 2002. The bill overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 420 to 2. HR 3916 must now be approved by the Senate before it is sent to the President.

"The tax has grown from a levy on luxury to a regressive expense on lower-income customers," Congressman Rodriguez said. "It also hinders small businesses and the growth of the Internet. I wholeheartedly support repealing the federal tax on talking."

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