Copyright 2000 The Omaha World-Herald Company
Omaha
World-Herald
June 15, 2000, Thursday SUNRISE EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 8;
LENGTH: 324 words
HEADLINE:
Senate Panel OKs End to Phone Service Tax
BYLINE: JAKE
THOMPSON
SOURCE: WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
DATELINE: Washington
BODY:
The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday approved
repealing the decades-old 3 percent federal excise telephone
tax and included a provision by Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., to make sure
consumers actually get the tax break. The tax break would amount to a savings of
$ 55 billion over 10 years. The committee accepted Kerrey's amendment requiring
that the U.S. General Accounting Office, Congress' watchdog agency, and the
Federal Communications Commission report to Congress what amount of the tax cut
has been passed on to consumers one year after the excise tax is repealed, set
for Aug. 31 in the Senate bill. "While I have received good-faith assurances
that consumers will receive 100 percent of the benefit of this tax repeal, I
want to ensure that happens," Kerrey said. "For years, American consumers have
paid taxes on their phone service," he also said. "Now that we've voted to get
rid of this tax, we need to guarantee the benefits of this repeal will be passed
directly on to the consumers." The House voted nearly unanimously last month to
phase out the telephone excise tax over three years. It is one of the oldest and
most durable telephone taxes. First passed to pay for World War
II costs, Congress has shaved it several times over the past six decades, but
hasn't eliminated it. The excise tax has remained a fixture of consumers' phone
bills. It is a tax paid on the cost of providing local telephone service.
Purchasers of prepaid telephone cards also pay the excise tax. The excise tax
repeal bill now heads to the full Senate, where Majority Leader Trent Lott,
R-Miss., has the power to determine when it will be considered on the Senate
floor. Other tax-cut measures passed by the House already are before Lott and
may provide competition. They include repealing the tax that heirs pay on a
parent's estate and curbing the so-called "marriage penalty" that some married
couples pay in income taxes.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: June 15, 2000 
