BILL REQ. #:  S-0467.1 

Read first time 01/24/2005.   Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, The federal excise tax on communications was enacted in 1898 for the purpose of funding the Spanish-American War; and
     WHEREAS, The tax was introduced as a "temporary" luxury tax; and
     WHEREAS, Telephone service is no longer a luxury, but rather a necessity for consumers of all income levels; and
     WHEREAS, The federal excise tax is regressive, as low-income Americans pay a higher percentage of their income for telephone services than high-income Americans; and
     WHEREAS, Telecommunications services are the infrastructure upon which new technologies, including the Internet, depend, and therefore the telecommunications excise tax discourages expansion of both the telephone infrastructure and new technologies; and
     WHEREAS, The federal excise tax on telecommunications flows into the general fund, rather than being earmarked for a specific purpose; and
     WHEREAS, Both Houses of Congress passed a repeal of the federal excise tax on telecommunications in 2000, which was vetoed by President William Jefferson Clinton;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully request that Congress repeal the federal excise tax on telecommunications.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.