Va. Gov. Tim Kaine (D) signed a telecom tax reform bill that cons...
Va. Gov. Tim Kaine (D) signed a telecom tax reform bill that consolidates a variety of local and state telecom levies into a single statewide 5% telecom service tax on telephone, cable and wireless services. The new law (HB-568)…
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also extends the telecom tax to cover formerly levy-free satellite video/radio services and VoIP services. The measure also established a statewide 75 landline 911 tax and continues indefinitely the state’s 75 wireless E-911 tax. The new state taxes replace municipal consumer utility taxes, municipal gross receipts taxes, municipal E-911 taxes, the state relay service tax and local cable franchise fees. It also makes cable right of way access fees equal to those applied to telephone carriers. The law also spells out the mechanism for rebating state tax collections to municipalities. Verizon applauded the signing for replacing a fragmented, regressive and discriminatory tax system with one that it said is fair, equitable and nondiscriminatory among the various telecom service delivery systems.