Rare repeal

mark green — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:46:21 +0000

It’s said taxes are eternal. Maybe not all of them. In an about-face the Obama administration has decided to back repeal of a mostly-ignored 1989 tax on the personal use of company cell phones. Just last week the IRS put out feelers on ways the law might be enforced. Instead, what the agency got was heat from businesses and individuals. Now it’s backing off. Good move. The tax is hard for people to calculate given today’s varied cell phone usages and even harder to enforce. It’s a relic of a time when cell phones were a perk for upwardly mobile Americans. That era obviously has passed, and so should the tax.

Targeting the bullet tax

j.e. mcreynolds — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:46:39 +0000

Under the 21^st Amendment to the Constitution, Americans have the right to buy and consume alcoholic beverages. But that doesn’t give them the right to avoid paying taxes on beer, wine and spirits. Two Democratic Oklahoma lawmakers think guns and ammunition should be exempt from state sales taxes because, in the words of one of them, “We should not have to pay a tax to exercise our constitutional rights – especially our Second Amendment rights.” State Rep. Eric Proctor, D-Tulsa, and state Sen. Kenneth Corn, D-Poteau, say they’ll seek the tax exemption in the next legislative session, one that will be dominated by how to fund government in a down year for state revenues. We assume that exempting guns and ammo from state sales taxes means they’d be exempted from local sales taxes as well. Of the many unneeded bills being talked about before the session begins, this ranks among the most pointless. Lawmakers should take aim and shoot down this proposal early in the session.

Scissor Tales » Taxes

Rare repeal

Targeting the bullet tax