Mobile Future: Freeze taxes on wireless bills

Mobile Future, a coalition of technology companies, telecommunications providers and other industry and community groups, is calling for a five-year moratorium on new taxes on wireless services.

In a letter sent to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (R-MT) and ranking member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter asks that the committee take action to move forward on the Wireless Tax Fairness Act of 2011. The bill, which was introduced in March 2011 by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and 12 co-sponsors, would prevent the imposition of any new taxes on wireless services, and would hold the government's cut of the average wireless bill at 14 percent — which is still nearly double the average state sales tax. Spalter cited data that shows more than 30 percent of adults live in wireless-only households, and that a large number of those households can be classified as low-income. And with data from the Pew Center for the Internet and American Life showing rapid adoption of smartphones by African-American and Hispanic consumers, Spalter said today's wireless services are helping to close the digital divide.