Useful Junk Mail

In with the cell phone bill was an ad. These usually go straight to the cylindrical file, but the screaming headline, "Tax On Talk!" caught my eye. Here's the text:

The Spanish-American War ended 107 years ago - so why are you still paying a 3% monthly excise tax to help fund it?

In 1898, President McKinley imposed the Federal Excise Tax law, or "Tax on Talk". It was supposed to be a TEMPORARY "luxury tax" on the very wealthy - who were the only ones that had phones at the time.

But a grassroots move is underway to wipe out this unfair and outrageous tax!

There are bills now in Congress to repeal this outdated and unfair tax - and we need your help!!

Two things come to mind:

1. There is nothing quite so permanent as a temporary tax
2. Today's luxury is tomorrow's common staple

Of course, this is in no way a grassroots movement. It's the effort of an industry to make their product marginally less pricey by eliminating a tax that brings no value to the consumer. This is, of course, very commendable and makes me think, "Where have you been the last 25 or 50 years?"

There is an online petition that foes of this tax can sign.