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I saw the story first mentioned on a site called “Zarius“. It seems that a McKinley-era tax was just repealed a few weeks ago:
The U.S. Treasury said Thursday it will stop collecting a 108-year-old telecommunications Quintum VoIP solutions. The perfect fit for your Enterprise. tax assessed to support the brief Spanish-American War and offer tax refunds for the past three years.The 3 percent federal excise tax applied to all long-distance calls since 1898, when it was put in place at a time when only the wealthiest Americans had access to long-haul telephone services. President McKinley put the tax in place to help defray the cost of the Spanish-American War, which was sparked by the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana Harbor in February, 1898.
Read the rest of the story here.I find this story interesting for two reasons. First, it's amazing when politics of yesteryear directly affect us in modern times. I bet that unless a person knew about this tax and its history, 99.9% of Americans would have no idea how a relatively minor war of the 19th Century had a rather direct connection to their wallets today. Second, I think that this is a perfect illustration why we should never give an inch when the government asks us for more tax money. Give an inch, and you might not get it back for, oh, 108 years!
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