No, not on immigration reform…but on the need to stop taxing cell phone customers to death!  Today’s Wall Street Journal highlights my legislation to put a stop to new cell phone taxes.  Legislation Senator McCain has introduced in the Senate.

The good news is that Mr. McCain isn’t the only one calling a time-out on new taxes. Last week, Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D., Calif.) and Chris Cannon (R., Utah) introduced a wireless tax moratorium bill. It’s time to protect consumers from this tax collector raid.

The average monthly tax bill on cell phones is twice the average monthly sales tax bill Americans pay.  That is unacceptable.  Government should not simply look at the latest technology, and then tax it to death. 

High discriminatory tax rates are a legacy of monopoly telephone company regulation and make little sense in today’s competitive market for wireless service. But they make even less sense for music, games and other services that happen to be delivered over the airwaves. Kentucky revenuers have even argued that customers buying ringtones should pay twice – the state’s general sales tax rate of 6%, plus local utility taxes because the music arrived via a phone company.

Much as I led the fight to pass the internet tax moratorium (which was signed by the President earlier this year), I will lead the fight to pass this cell tax fairness act.