tom (04/14/83)
Telephone Tax Refusal: An Easy, Low-Risk Action
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The federal excise tax on telephone service has been associated with war
spending throughout most of its history. The first telephone tax was on
long distance calls and a 15% tax on local service. The telephone tax was
retained during the Korean War and then reduced to 10% on all telephone
service in 1954. In 1965, Congress approved a reduction of the phone tax
to 3% with elimination planned for 1969.
However, in 1966, Congress passed a special tax bill which included a
resumption of the 10% phone tax to provide money for the Vietnam War. From
April 1966 through 1982, the federal phone tax has generated $24 billion. With
an ever increasing military budget, Congress has not allowed this tax to expire
as has been planned several times. The phone tax will increase to 3% on
January 1, 1983 from the current 1%. This federal tax is still considered war-
related and an appropriate focus of protest.
To refuse the Federal excise tax on telephone service, simply deduct the amount
from your total bill each month. Include a note explaining that you are
paying the full bill less this tax because of your opposition to military
spending.
What will the telephone company do? They will notify the IRS of your non-
payment of the federal tax and credit that amount to your bill. This may
happen on a monthly or quarterly basis. Occasionally the telephone company
has misunderstood the action of military tax refusal and threatened to dis-
continue phone service based on unpaid phone tax, but FCC regulations make it
clear that is not a legal action. You may receive a notice of taxes due from
the IRS, but this seems to be happening less and less frequently.
Here is part of a letter that was recently written by a tax refuser:
I sent a letter along with the check for my first phone bill in Pittsburgh
explaining why I had deducted the cost of a home visit for installation
(a mistake by a Bell installer was the reason a second visit was necessary)
and why I had deducted the amount of the federal tax. The Bell adminis-
trator who responded to my letter opened the conversation this way: "I
understand why you are refusing the federal tax, but you'll have to explain
to me about your problem with the installation charge..." Then he told me
that his office has no problem with refusal to pay the federal tax: "We
just fill out the necessary forms showing how much tax was refused and
forward them to the government." He asked me to include a brief note with
my bill each month so the paperwork could be done with the appropriate
backup information. This surprised me, but I shouldn't have been surprised,
because I then remembered that when my Bell Telephone payment history was
checked, the Philadelphia office called my credit history "excellent" even
though I had never paid the federal tax.
As a telephone tax refuser, you will be joining with thousands of others who
are using this method to voice their desire to redirect taxes away from
military spending.cng (04/15/83)
Did E.T. know about this?