WASHINGTON-President Clinton on Friday signed into law legislation that mandates wireless subscribers be taxed based on a single address.
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, which had lobbied for the legislation, hailed the event.
“Instead of a mish-mash of different jurisdictional claims that confuse wireless consumers, there will now be one, commonly agreed to formula,” said CTIA President Thomas E. Wheeler.
The bill is important because of the 55,000 total taxing jurisdictions in the country, 36,000 of those tax mobile-phone use. These jurisdictions have developed a variety of ways to tax wireless subscribers for the calls they make. The result is an overlapping taxation system where wireless customers may be taxed several times, in several jurisdictions, for placing a single phone call.
