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B-283464 1 (2000-02-28)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptakyb0001 and id is 1 raw text is: tGAO United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 Decision Matter of: Telephone Charges - State of Utah File: Date: Comptroller General of the United States B-283464 February 28, 2000 DIGEST The federal government is constitutionally immune from paying telephone charges imposed by the state of Utah because the charges are vendee taxes, the legal burden of which falls directly on the federal government as a user of telephone services. DECISION An authorized certifying officer of the Department of Agriculture's National Finance Center has requested an advance decision under 31 U.S.C. § 3529 on the propriety of paying the 911 emergency services telephone charge and the hearing impaired surcharge assessed against federal agencies in the state of Utah.! For the reasons set forth below, both the 911 charge and the hearing impaired surcharge are vendee taxes, the legal burden of which falls directly on the federal government as a user of telephone services. Accordingly, the federal government is constitutionally immune from these taxes. Bac kgro und Under section 69-2-5(3)(a) of the Utah Code, any public agency2 providing 911 emergency telephone service may levy an emergency services telephone charge on 1 The request letter was initially sent to the General Services Administration's Board of Contract Appeals (BCA) and transferred by the BCA at the request of the Department. 2 Public agency is defined to mean any county, city, town, special service district, or public authority located within the state which provides fire fighting, law enforcement, medical, or other emergency services. Utah Code Ann. § 69-2-2(4).

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