Taxing Me Daily
Residents of Prince George’s County Maryland beware! More is at stake in the November election than the fate of the free world…your taxes may also be on the rise. The ugly tax monster has reared its head once again in PG County, and on November 4, in addition to casting their ballots for the next President of the United States, the folks of PG County will be faced with the decision of whether or not to increase taxes on their wireless, landline and cable digital voice services. The obvious choice to the question ‘can I afford to pay more taxes’ seems like a “no,” but this particular tax is ostensibly aimed at provide funding for PG County’s School Board, and voters may not want to feel like they aren’t supporting education. But consider this, just because the tax is supposed to support education, we can’t be sure that it really will…
The county proposes a 3% tax increase on your basic telephone services. The more telephones/services you have, the more taxes you’re going to see. If this referendum passes, you could be taxed as many as THREE times each month–cell phone, TAXED, landline, TAXED, digital cable voice, TAXED…
This proposed tax may not seem like a big deal at first, but a 3% increase applied each month to each of the communications services affected by the county’s proposal means that consumers can expect heir pocketbooks to be a bit lighter come the end of the year, not because they are getting more or better communication services, but because the school board thinks this is the best way to increase its bottom line and raise revenue for the schools.
Now don’t think for a minute that I don’t support the schools. I am the product of public education, and I’ve been fortunate enough to achieve success in higher education courtesy of the foundation that was laid for me early on in public schools. A line has to be drawn, however, between funding the schools we care so much about and placing a financial burden on me every time I take advantage of an essential communication service. With the economy prices being what it is, I, and most people like me, can barely afford to put gas in the car, buy groceries, and pay the never ending stack of bills that seem to trickle in each week, much less afford an additional tax on those bills when I’m not getting more bang for my buck.
Think about the compounded effect of this tax on PG County residents: an 18% tax applied to your bill monthly for the county’s efforts at increasing education funding; this tax is on top of the state and federal taxes we’re already required to pay on communication services each month. Before you know it, a phone bill that started as $99/month FOR ACTUAL SERVICES, becomes $136/month because of all the taxes you have to pay for those services.
There has got to be another way. I get it, the piper wants to get paid too; everyone wants a cut of the ever-expanding communications industry, but at what price to the consumer?
The PG County Board of Education has an operating budget that is already operating at a surplus. I suggest they cut wasteful spending, minimize funding for programs that aren’t providing students with any real benefits, stop erecting unnecessary buildings and GET OUT OF MY POCKET. The choice should be clear for PG County voters, on November 4 vote “NO” to increased taxes on your communications bill!






