Anti-Tax Bill Picking Up Steam

      You've heard me talk a lot here on the blog about wireless taxes and fees... about how ridiculous it is that wireless consumers are paying, on average, more than 16% a month of taxes and fees on their bills.  A lot of people in Congress agree, and in fact, tomorrow, the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing on a bipartisan effort to stop the gouging of wireless consumers. Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Chris Cannon (R-UT) are co-sponsoring H.R. 5793, which will put a freeze on new, discriminatory wireless taxes and fees, and several witnesses are scheduled to talk at the hearing about the legislative proposal. As of now the hearing will be available on a webcast, which starts at 1:00 PM.  Check it out and find out why this bill should be passed, and why 114 House co-sponsors are behind it. That is an impressive number of representatives from both sides of the aisle, as 41 Democrats and 73 Republicans are standing up for wireless consumers and saying enough is enough.

       There's also a companion bill in the Senate, S. 3249, co-sponsored by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). They, too, recognize the need to bring fairness into the equation, and should be applauded for standing up for wireless consumers. It's important to note that neither bill takes away one penny in existing state or local government revenue, and they don't prevent a jurisdiction from passing across-the-board taxes. Considering all of that, I'd like to know if anyone can come up with one good reason why wireless consumers should alone have to carry the tax loads on their backs. These proposals are a start, and very good ones at that.