SENATE MEMORIAL 19

47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2005

INTRODUCED BY

Leonard Lee Rawson

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THAT THE UNITED STATES SENATORS REPRESENTING NEW MEXICO SUPPORT REPEAL OF THE FEDERAL EXCISE TAX ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS.

     WHEREAS, the federal excise tax on telecommunications was enacted in 1898 for the purpose of funding the Spanish-American war; and

     WHEREAS, the tax was introduced as a "temporary" luxury tax; and

     WHEREAS, telephone service is no longer a luxury, but rather a necessity for consumers at all income levels; and

     WHEREAS, the federal excise tax is regressive, as low-income Americans pay a higher percentage of their income for telephone services than high-income Americans; and

     WHEREAS, telecommunications services are the infrastructure upon which new technologies, including the internet, depend, and the telecommunications excise tax discourages expansion of both the telephone infrastructure and new technologies; and

     WHEREAS, the federal excise tax on telecommunications flows into the general fund, rather than being earmarked for a specific purpose; and

     WHEREAS, both houses of congress passed a repeal of the federal excise tax on telecommunications in 2000, which was vetoed by President William Jefferson Clinton;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the United States senators representing New Mexico be requested to support the repeal of the federal excise tax on telecommunications; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of the memorial be transmitted to the United States senators representing New Mexico.

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