CCAGW Asks House to Support H.R. 1521, the Cell Tax Fairness Act  

June 11, 2009

U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC  20515

Dear Representative,

Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) recently introduced H.R. 1521, the Cell Tax Fairness Act of 2009.  On behalf of the more than 1.2 million members and supporters of Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I ask that you support this legislation.

The excessive state and local tax rate on wireless services increased more than 4 times faster than the rate on other taxable goods and services between January 2003 and July 2007.  In response, the bipartisan Lofgren-Franks legislation calls for a five year tax moratorium on all new, discriminatory state and local monthly wireless taxes and fees imposed on more than 270 million American wireless consumers.

The typical wireless consumer faces over 15 percent in taxes, fees and surcharges on wireless services, more than twice the average tax rate for other goods and services in the United States.  Nationally, consumers pay approximately $21 billion annually in wireless taxes and fees. 

In a time of economic downtown and skyrocketing prices, it is time to cut American taxpayers a break.  All votes on H.R. 1521 will be among those considered in CCAGW’s 2009 Congressional Ratings. 

Sincerely,

Thomas Schatz,
President