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Consumer Advocacy Organization Joins Effort to Repeal South Dakota’s Double Cell Phone Tax
MyWireless.org educates & mobilizes consumers about Gross Receipts Tax
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Consumer advocacy organization MyWireless.org™ has joined the fight to repeal South Dakota’s Gross Receipts Tax (GRT) on wireless services, a tax costing the state’s cell phone users $8-$10 million a year. The GRT imposes a 4% monthly tax on cell phone service, in addition to the 6% state and local sales tax, and other government mandates and fees.
“More than 60% of South Dakotans benefit from the safety, productivity, mobility and convenience cell phones provide every day. But every month these consumers are punished with double taxation of the wireless services that help them stay in touch with their families, work more productively, and even call for emergency help. It is absolutely unfair that the Gross Receipts Tax singles out cell phone users. No other commercial goods or services in South Dakota are subject to this type of double taxation,” said Kimberly Kuo, Executive Director of MyWireless.org. “We want to make sure that no one is taxed out of being able to afford wireless services.”
MyWireless.org’s efforts to support the GRT repeal will educate South Dakota’s 500,000 wireless consumers about this unfair and excessive tax burden and mobilize them to support the repeal legislation, sponsored by State Senator Ed Olson and State Representative Joel Dykstra. Just this week, the organization launched a statewide media effort encouraging consumers to directly contact their elected officials and urge them to repeal this onerous tax.
“Cell phone users in South Dakota pay some of the highest wireless taxes in the country. MyWireless.org is committed to providing consumers with the facts about how they are being unfairly taxed. When consumers have the facts, they will make their voices heard – to Governor Rounds and to their State Legislators – until this excessive, double tax is repealed,” continued Kuo.
South Dakota currently ranks 10th in the country for taxes and fees on wireless services. In fact, taxes, surcharges and government fees account for nearly 18% of consumers’ monthly cell phone bills. Worse, the money collected does nothing to improve the quality and coverage of consumers’ cell phone service.
Cell phone users fed up with paying high wireless taxes are urged to visit www.MyWireless.org – an informational and interactive Web site that allows consumers to learn more about wireless issues in South Dakota and across the nation. By joining MyWireless.org, consumers can voice their support or opposition to wireless taxes and regulations directly to lawmakers, helping to promote the innovation, affordability and accessibility of wireless services for all.
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MyWireless.org is a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to giving wireless consumers a clear and powerful voice to protect the freedom, value, security and mobility they enjoy with wireless services.
www.MyWireless.org