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B-265776 1 (1995-11-29)

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United States
General Accounting Office
Washington, D.C. 20548

Office of the General Counsel





B-265776

November  29, 1995


Jim Kranjc
Sales/Use Tax Manager
Ameritech
30 South Wacker  Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60606

Dear Mr. Kranjc:

By letter dated August 15, 1995, you asked whether federal agencies in the state of
Illinois are immune from paying the 9-1-1 emergency telephone surcharge imposed
by the state. Apparently, there is a disagreement on this issue between the Illinois
Commerce   Commission, which  contends that the federal government is immune
from paying the 9-1-1 surcharge, and the city of Chicago which argues that federal
agencies in the state are required to pay the surcharge. Under 31 U.S.C. § 3529,
certain federal officials are entitled to receive an advance decision from the
Comptroller General concerning an agency's authority to make a particular
payment, mg., a payment for a 9-1-1 surcharge imposed by a state. Although you
are not entitled to a Comptroller General decision under this statutory provision, we
have summarized  our prior decisions on this issue below. We trust this information
will be useful to you.

In prior decisions on 9-1-1 emergency telephone charges, we have repeatedly stated
the unquestioned principle of constitutional law that the United States and its
instrumentalities are immune from direct taxation by state and local governments.
Direct taxation occurs where the legal incidence of the tax falls directly on the
United States as the buyer of goods, Kern-Limerick, Inc. v. Scurlock, 347 U.S. 110
(1954), or as the consumer of services, 53 Comp. Gen. 410 (1973), or as the owner


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