WASHINGTON—Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine (D) signed into law landmark legislation creating the nation’s first flat tax on wireless and other communications services in the state.
The legislation, championed by Del. Samuel Nixon (R), caps the communications tax at 5 percent. The mobile-phone industry, facing what it considers discriminatory state and local taxes throughout the nation, supports the flat-tax approach.
“Virginia’s lawmakers have set an example for the rest of the country, bringing the commonwealth’s communications tax system up to speed with today’s competitive marketplace,” said Robert W. Woltz Jr., president of Verizon Virginia. “This simplified communications tax system will benefit citizens by overhauling one of the most regressive taxes in Virginia, replacing it with a fair, equitable system that doesn’t discriminate among the various methods competitors use to deliver communications services.”
