WASHINGTON-The mobile-phone industry, decrying increasing taxes, has sent out a call to arms to the nation’s 182 million wireless subscribers on Tax Day 2005.
CTIA, the national cell-phone trade group, is urging consumers to log into www.stopaddingtomybill.com to register complaints about taxes that the association said average 17 percent of wireless subscribers’ monthly bills.
“The wireless industry is giving consumers better service and products and more minutes at lower cost, while governments are taking more and more money for taxes and fees,” said CTIA President Steve Largent. “Government has unfairly viewed falling wireless prices as an opportunity to raise taxes. The steep increase in wireless taxation over the past several years has wrongly prevented consumers from realizing the savings they deserve. The good news is that consumers are taking notice and sending a clear message to policy-makers-stop taxing my wireless phone.”
CTIA said taxes and fees levied on consumers in New York, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska and the District of Columbia exceed the 20-percent level.
