Florida's hangup: High cell phone fees and taxes
Source: Miami Herald
Florida's hangup: High cell phone fees and taxes
If you think you're forking over too much of your paycheck to pay your cell phone bill, you're not imagining things. Florida has the fourth highest average state-local cell phone tax and fee rate in the country at 16.55 percent, according to a study by the Washington-D.C.-based Tax Foundation.
"If you add in the 5.82% federal rate, Floridians are actually paying 22.38% of their wireless bill in taxes fees on average. The U.S. average combined federal, state, and local rate is 17.05%," according to the group's press release.
Gov. Rick Scott is now promising that he will give Florida voters a $120 million annual reduction in the communications services tax, which collects revenue from a variety of sources, including cell phones. Lowering cell phone fees has been a state budgetary consideration in the past, but the effort hasn't gone anywhere.
The Tax Foundation reports the following highlights of its study:
* The five states with the highest state-local rates are: Washington State (18.6 percent), Nebraska (18.48 percent), New York (17.74 percent), Florida (16.55 percent), and Illinois (15.81 percent).
* The five states with the lowest state-local rates are: Oregon (1.76 percent), Nevada (1.86 percent), Idaho (2.62 percent), Montana (6.00 percent), and West Virginia (6.15 percent).
* Americans pay an average of 17.05 percent in combined federal, state, and local tax and fees on wireless service. This is comprised of a 5.82 percent federal rate and an average 11.23 percent state-local tax rate.
* Four cities - Chicago, Baltimore, Omaha, and New York City - have effective tax rates in excess of 25 percent of the customer bill.
* The average rates of taxes and fees on wireless telephone services are more than two times higher than the average sales tax rates that apply to most other taxable goods and services.
* Excessive taxes on wireless consumers disproportionately impacts poorer families.
In its report, the group also states:
Wireless consumers continue to face excessive tax burdens when compared to the tax burden on other goods and services purchased in the competitive marketplace. The average rates of taxes and fees on wireless telephone services are more than two times higher than the average sales tax rates that apply to most other taxable goods and services. Consumers in seven states-Washington, Nebraska, New York, Florida, Illinois, Rhode Island, and Missouri-pay total taxes and fees in excess of 20 percent of their bills.
The Tax Foundation, launched in 1937, describes itself as a nonpartisan research organization that monitors fiscal policy at the federal, state and local levels.
Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2014/10/floridas-hangup-high-cell-phone-fees-and-taxes.html
Shortened it to the four allowed paragraphs, no including 'bullet points'
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