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Wonderling Honored for Efforts Opposing Higher
Cell Phone Tax
HARRISBURG -- Two
organizations recently honored Senator Rob Wonderling (R-24) for his support of
legislation to reduce taxes on wireless services.
Steve
Largent, president and CEO of CTIA – The Wireless Association, presented Senator
Wonderling with a signed football imprinted with the text “Sack the cell phone
tax.” An NFL player with the Seattle Seahawks for 14 years and a member of
the NFL Hall of Fame, Largent is well known for setting numerous receiving
records during his pro football career.
Largent
was in Harrisburg to lead a rally in the Capitol rotunda drawing statewide
attention to the “double tax” Pennsylvanians are paying on their wireless bills,
making Pennsylvania the eighth-highest-ranked state in terms of taxes and fees
on wireless service.
“Pennsylvanians already paid state and local taxes averaging 6.5 percent on
their wireless service and, because of new legislation passed last December,
wireless service is subject to an additional gross receipts tax of 5 percent,”
said Largent. “In essence, this amounts to a double tax for wireless consumers.
We appreciate Senator Wonderling’s support of Senate Bill 1156 to repeal that
excessive taxation, benefiting Pennsylvania businesses and consumers.”
Pennsylvania holds the distinction of being the state that has imposed the
largest increase in wireless taxes during the past few years. As a result,
most people in the state have seen taxes on their wireless service nearly
double.
Also on
hand to recognize Senator Wonderling was Jim Broussard, chairman of Citizens
Against Higher Taxes. Broussard presented the Senator with a certificate
in honor of his co-sponsorship of Senate Bill 1156.
“As our
name indicates, we are a citizens’ group opposed to excessive taxation,”
Broussard said. “We very much appreciate the vigilant efforts being
made by Senator Wonderling on behalf of all Pennsylvanians to reduce their tax
burden. It’s just not fair to make Pennsylvanians pay two taxes on the
same service. This tax hits Pennsylvania consumers hard.
“At a
time when we want to encourage the expanded use of wireless services to make our
businesses more competitive, it simply makes no sense to impose higher taxes
that are discouraging their use and discouraging more investment by
telecommunications firms.”
Largent
and Broussard advised consumers to look closely at their wireless bills to
identify the added charges they are paying due to the new gross receipts tax.
They asked for people’s help in voicing their support for having the new tax
repealed. Information about the double tax on wireless services, including
data comparing wireless taxes in various states, is available to the public at:
www.stopaddingtomybill.com.
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