Scott Woolley of Forbes has an interesting strategy for avoiding taxes on his cell phone bill: get a phone number from the area within the U.S. that has low wireless telecommunication taxes (in Woolley's case, Idaho)! (HT: Robert Lawson of Division of Labour.)
If, after reading the Forbes' article, you're curious as to what the effective total wireless service taxes being charged in your state might be, in the interest of "shopping" your wireless service, the Tax Foundation has a comprehensive table showing state by state wireless taxes, which Political Calculations' presents below using dynamic tables. Just click the column heads to rank the data in the table from highest to lowest, or vice versa:
| 2004 U.S. State-by-State Total Federal, State and Local Wireless Telecommunication Tax Rates |
|---|
| State | Effective State and Local Tax Rate (%) | Total Effective Tax Rate (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 9.88 | 15.93 |
| Alaska | 7.48 | 13.53 |
| Arizona | 9.70 | 15.75 |
| Arkansas | 13.68 | 19.73 |
| California | 10.23 | 16.28 |
| Colorado | 12.10 | 18.15 |
| Connecticut | 5.96 | 12.01 |
| Delaware | 4.83 | 10.88 |
| Florida | 16.10 | 22.15 |
| Georgia | 15.85 | 21.90 |
| Hawaii | 5.99 | 12.04 |
| Idaho | 4.11 | 10.16 |
| Illinois | 18.90 | 24.95 |
| Indiana | 9.11 | 15.16 |
| Iowa | 9.39 | 15.44 |
| Kansas | 20.28 | 26.33 |
| Kentucky | 12.81 | 18.86 |
| Louisiana | 10.73 | 16.78 |
| Maine | 7.25 | 13.30 |
| Maine | 4.32 | 10.37 |
| Maryland | 25.26 | 31.31 |
| Michigan | 18.10 | 24.15 |
| Minnesota | 6.71 | 12.76 |
| Mississippi | 12.58 | 18.63 |
| Missouri | 21.74 | 27.79 |
| Montana | 3.83 | 9.88 |
| Nebraska | 23.17 | 29.22 |
| Nevada | 1.92 | 7.97 |
| New Hampshire | 6.26 | 12.31 |
| New Jersey | 6.69 | 12.74 |
| New Mexico | 6.54 | 12.59 |
| New York | 15.24 | 21.29 |
| North Carolina | 16.78 | 22.83 |
| North Dakota | 9.47 | 15.52 |
| Ohio | 8.50 | 14.55 |
| Oklahoma | 17.92 | 23.97 |
| Oregon | 11.15 | 17.20 |
| Pennsylvania | 15.28 | 21.33 |
| Rhode Island | 16.76 | 22.81 |
| South Carolina | 12.60 | 18.65 |
| South Dakota | 6.53 | 12.58 |
| Tennessee | 11.81 | 17.86 |
| Texas | 23.24 | 29.29 |
| Utah | 12.31 | 18.36 |
| Vermont | 5.22 | 11.27 |
| Virginia | 27.72 | 33.77 |
| Washington | 17.21 | 23.26 |
| Washington, DC | 12.19 | 18.24 |
| West Virginia | 21.41 | 27.46 |
| Wisconsin | 5.08 | 11.13 |
| Wyoming | 10.04 | 16.09 |
The U.S. federal government places a 6.05% tax upon wireless communication services, which has been rolled into the total effective tax rate data above. The original source of the wireless tax data is the Council on State Taxation (COST).
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