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more on U.S. Treasury mulls end of phone excise tax - WSJ
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 15:51:49 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Hank Levine <hlevine () lb3law com> Date: April 14, 2006 3:37:57 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: RE: [IP] U.S. Treasury mulls end of phone excise tax - WSJ As the lead attorney on the majority of the lawsuits that led to this (including 2 of the 3 appellate decisions) I should offer a couple of comments. First, Treasury Secretary Snow told Congress in mid-February that if theGovernment lost one more appeal -- including its then-pending petition for
rehearing en banc in the 6th Circuit -- it would give up. It lost thepetition for rehearing on March 30th. FYI, three more appellate cases have been heard since then (in the 3rd, 2nd, and Federal Circuits) and in all of
them the Government and its arguments received a frosty reception.Second, the idea of three years of refunds is new. Given how cumbersome the
excise tax refund process is [each taxpayer has to file a separate multi-page form for each quarter for which s/he seeks a refund, and thenprove that s/he was billed on a non-distance sensitive basis and that the bill was paid] it will be interesting to see what the Government comes up
with to implement this, assuming the story is accurate.Finally, I don't know where the $60 billion number comes from, but it's pure horses**t. The long distance tax -- the one that's been struck down by the courts -- produces $1.6 billion in revenue each year. Local services are taxed, but they are not attacked by the lawsuits and therefore will continue and not be subject to refunds. Refunding the excise taxes collected on cell phone service could double the amount (or even a bit more), but there's no
way to get close to the number quoted. Happy Passover and Easter to all. Hank Levine Levine, Blaszak, Block & Boothby, LLP 2001 L Street, NW., Suite 900 Washington, DC 20036 * (202) 857-2540 * Fax (202) 223-0833 * hlevine () lb3law com -----Original Message----- From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net] Sent: Friday, April 14, 2006 3:24 PM To: ip () v2 listbox com Subject: [IP] U.S. Treasury mulls end of phone excise tax - WSJ Begin forwarded message: From: Richard Forno <rforno () infowarrior org> Date: April 14, 2006 1:54:53 PM EDT To: Infowarrior List <infowarrior () attrition org> Cc: Dave Farber <dave () farber net> Subject: U.S. Treasury mulls end of phone excise tax - WSJ U.S. Treasury mulls end of phone excise tax - WSJ Fri Apr 14, 2006 5:54am ET10 NEW YORK, April 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department is developing a plan to discontinue a 3 percent federal excise tax on long-distance and wireless telephone calls and to refund billions of dollars to consumers and businesses that have paid it, the Wall Street Journal said on Friday. "Government officials are holding closely guarded discussions on how to best handle the repayment process as well as mitigate the impact of about $60 billion in potential refunds and lost federal revenues over the next five years," the Journal said. The planned end of the tax follows more than a half dozen court rulings in recent years that the government is misapplying the tax. The courts have ordered refunds to companies that sued over the charges. Rather than continue to fight similar pending lawsuits, the Treasury has decided to concede defeat and discontinue the tax, the report said, citing government officials. C Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.\ http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx? type=topNews&storyid=urn:news ml:reuters.com:20060414:MTFH76429_2006-04-14_09-54-11_N14277438&rpc=44 ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as hlevine () lb3law com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ipArchives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting- people/
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