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1 Scott Mackey & Joseph Bishop-Henchman, Wireless Taxes and Fees Climb Again in 2018 1 (2018)

handle is hein.taxfoundation/wrletxfc0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Wireless Taxes and Fees Climb Again in 2018 FISCAL FACT No. 626 Dec. 2018 Scott Mackey Managing Partner, Leonine Public Affairs LLP Joseph Bishop-Henchman Executive Vice President The Tax Foundation is the nation's leading independent tax policy research organization. Since 1937, our research, analysis, and experts have informed smarter tax policy at the federal, state, and local levels. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. ©2018 Tax Foundation Distributed under Creative Commons CC BY NC 4.0 Editor, Rachel Shuster Designer, Dan Carvajal Tax Foundation 1325 G Street, NW, Suite 950 Washington, DC 20005 202.464.6200 taxfoundation.org Summary of Key Findings A typical American household with four wireless phones paying $100 per month for taxable wireless service can expect to pay about $229 per year in wireless taxes, fees, and surcharges-up from $221 in 2017. Nationally, these impositions make up about 19.1 percent of the average customer's bill-the highest rate ever. Illinois now has the highest wireless taxes in the country at 27.6%, followed by Alaska at 26.1%, Washington at 26.1%, Nebraska at 25.5%, and New York at 25.2%. Since 2008, average monthly wireless service bills per subscriber have dropped from just under $50 per-line per month to $38.66 per month-a 23 percent reduction. However, wireless taxes have increased from 15.1 percent to 19.1 percent of the average bill-a 27 percent increase. Most states impose higher taxes, fees, and surcharges on wireless service than on other taxable goods and services. In Alaska, which has no state sales tax but allows local sales taxes, wireless taxes are nearly eight times higher than local sales taxes. Other states with significantly higher wireless taxes include Nebraska (2.6 times higher), Pennsylvania (2.3 times higher), Maryland (2.3 times higher) and Illinois (2.2 times higher). At the end of 2017, over 68 percent of poor adults had only wireless for their phone service, and 53 percent of all adults were wireless only. Excessive taxes and fees, especially the very high per line charges like those imposed in Chicago and Baltimore, impose a disproportionate burden on low-income consumers. In Chicago, taxes on a family with four lines of taxable wireless service paying $100 per month are nearly $500 per year-over 40 percent of the bill.

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