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On May 25, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that the federal excise tax on long distance telephone service will come to an end this summer. Americans probably have seen this tax when they have reviewed their monthly phone bills. However, what many Americans probably do not know about is the why this tax was established in the first place. As it turns out, the federal government established this excise tax in 1898 to fund the Spanish-American War. After learning about the history of the tax, I double-checked my encyclopedia. My suspicions were correct: the Spanish-American War is, in fact, over. We won.
In a Roundup from several weeks ago, I wrote about how Congress passed important tax relief measures that will help continue our country’s current economic expansion. Admittedly, this latest tax relief from the Treasury Department will probably not have too much effect on the economy. The average phone users will save about twenty bucks a year. However, this situation points to broader problem in Washington: it is nearly impossible to end a federal agency, program, or tax once it is created, even if the original purpose for the program or tax no longer exists. In this case, the Spanish-American War had been over for more than a century, yet Americans were still paying taxes to support it. I guess President Reagan had it right (as he usually did) when he said that "the nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program."
It is this “eternal” nature of federal programs that has led me to believe that all programs and taxes should come up for review every ten years to see if they are still necessary or effective. Right now, there are efforts in the House to institute such a policy. I am very supportive of these efforts and hope to see legislation come to the floor this year.
On This Week’s Agenda
The House will consider legislation this week that would increase the fines for broadcasters who put indecent material over the airwaves. The legislation raises the fine from $32,500 per offense to $325,000. The public, not private broadcasters, owns the airwaves. Therefore, the public, particularly parents, should be able to turn on their televisions and radios and reasonably expect not to be bombarded with indecent material and images. Since we will be voting on the Senate version of the bill, approval by the House will send this legislation to President Bush for his signature.
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