Earlier this week, I attended a forum on broadband technology and media that was put on by The National Organization of Black Elected Legislative (NOBEL) Women in Washington, D.C. I heard some great speakers talk about the fascinating ways modern technology, including wireless, is connecting students with teachers, doctors with patients, and endangered citizens with emergency responders. There was unanimous agreement among the group that wireless adoption and use shouldn’t be discouraged by discriminatory taxation. The Mercatus Center at George Mason University posted an article this week that summarizes a new report trying to explain why cell phone taxes are so high. The answer: it’s because they pile up. When you add federal, state and local taxes and fees and lump them all on the consumer, they pile up quickly. No single tax or fee seems that outrageous to lawmakers who are looking at them narrowly. But as we talk about at MyWireless.org all the time, it’s the combination of all of the wireless taxes and fees that end up hurting the end consumer. That’s why we support the ‘Wireless Tax Fairness Act’ that would put a five-year freeze on all new state and local wireless taxes and fees.

Watch Jamie Hastings of CTIA – The Wireless Association® talk about the need for support of this bill at NOBEL Women’s conference yesterday.