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"The taxes are insane!" cried East Village resident Jessica Porter to the Post about her three-line "family plan" cell phone bill, which comes with a tax rate of over 30%. All those vague little taxes can currently add as much as 33%, with eleven federal, state and city levies combining to give New Yorkers the fourth-highest cellphone taxes of any state. And the wireless tax in the latest state budget will likely make us number one! Today the tabloid of record looks with signature disgust at the taxes, which include the state's $1.20 per-month 911 charge. After complaints that only a fraction of the tax went to 911 service, the State Legislature recently changed the name to a "public-service fee" instead. Much better! Bushwick's Danny Schluck tells the Post, "If there was a $5 monkey fee, even if they couldn't explain it, you would still have to pay." Economist Scott Mackey explains that politicians like taxing cell phones because most folks skip the fine print: "There's a tendency to feel no one is going to notice this little tax. They can do this without a lot of pushback from their constituents."
Cellphone Taxes Skyrocketing in New York
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So glad I am not addicted to foolish babbling on my cellphone, which is annoying to others!
I got a pay-as-you-go Tracfone deal: phone, 860 minutes, and a year of service, for $99 bucks. That's it. No extra taxes. When the year is up, I will probably have 600 minutes to roll over.
God I hate listening to people's cell phone conversations. It makes me want to put a bullet in my brain when I am stuck near someone yammering into a f#cking cellphone.
Just curious, what's stopping you?
Touché
as a frequenter of the 7 train that runs elevated for most of the way i couldn't agree more. but save your brain and put the bullet in theirs.
Why doesn't the legislature grow some balls and just raise income taxes? Because that's what they really need to do to bridge the budget gap. Raising fees & Taxes on everything else can only go so far and is politically convenient only up to a point.
BLEED US DRY YOU FUCKING BLOOD SUCKERS
New York is Dying, and Sheldon Silver is killing it
how many more taxes do I have to pay? I am so sick of this.
PS- There SHOULD be a Monkey Tax on cell phones, definitely!
What, and give more power and influence to the cellphone monkey black market? No thank you!
As a T-Mobile prepaid gold rewards member, I've only paid $120 for the past three years ($10 last year). I still have 900 minutes left.
No, I don't waste my minutes on bullshit that can be done face to face.
I have Tracfone Lifeline service. free 70 mins a month and rollover. only used 5 mins in three months.
when I had a cell it was a 39.99 plan with taxes $60.
don't fall for the salesman, get a pre-paid if you think it's for you.
unless you're one of the lucky ones where you boss pays for your cell service.
It is great that there is finally an article that allows us each to brag in the comments about how rarely we use our cell phones. Those of you with pre-paid phones and limited minutes are SUCH non-conformists.
Who the Fuck is Bushwick's Danny Schluck?!
According to this if you change your primary place of use from New York to New Jersey, you can save about $90 a year. Oddly, New Jersey has lower/fewer taxes and fees than New York on cell phones.
According to the source (for those who don't want to go there) here is the breakdown:
NY TAXES
Verizon Wireless Surcharges and Other Charges & Credits $4.24
Fed Universal Service Charge $0.96
Regulatory Charge $0.07
Administrative Charge $0.85
Gross Receipts Surchg $2.36
Taxes, Governmental Surcharges & Fees $5.27
NY State E911 Fee $1.20
NY City 911 Surchg $0.30
NY State Sales Tax $1.80
New York City Sales Tax $1.80
NY Local McTd Sales Tax $0.17
TOTAL $19.02
NJ TAXES
Verizon Wireless Surcharges and Other Charges & Credits $1.81
Fed Universal Service Charge $0.89
Regulatory Charge $0.07
Administrative Charge $0.85
Taxes, Governmental Surcharges & Fees $3.96
NJ 911 System/Emerg. Resp. Fee $0.90
NJ State Sales Tax $3.06
TOTAL $11.54
Dont own one. Dont want one. Taxes on Cars, cellies, booze and ciggies somehow seem fair.
How's that #14? Cigs, booze and cars add to healthcare or infrastructure costs - but how do cellphones add to that?
Exactly. The same politicians will boast about not raising income taxes, but pinch you for a penny here and a penny there. Spineless, they are.Hey, these taxes aren't hard to beat. Just change your billing to paperless and switch the address to one in Nevada which has just a small tax on cellphone usage.
Problem solved. Yes, this does work.
Do you think that people were having a similar conversation 60 years ago? "I don't have a telephone! I HATE people who talk to others with WIRES! I like to spread the word by walking 2 miles up to the Johnson's farm and that should be good enough for everyone!"
Some of us don't feel like paying a $60 minimum for a landline, or even at all. I try to be judicious and quiet about my public cell use, but to be fair the parents screaming at their kid in front of me are making much more noise than I am.
I'm amazed at how loud my cell phone voice is,
it's kinda embarrassing. I have to tone it down.
but then I only use the phone in emergencies/problems and that may be why I'm talking loudly.
The nice thing about most phones plans is you can have a phone number from what ever state you want. I recently had all the numbers for my family plan changed to DC numbers since they have very low cell phone taxes.
Nice article. Aligned with what seems to be the general consensus, I think it's completely outrageous that NYC cell bills may jump as much as 33 percent because of the tax increases. I thought I'd mention to fellow concerned New Yorkers that having effectively dealt with my own $230 monthly Verizon bill recently, I've found some online tools for lowering my bill that may help people counter the tax increase; for example, one great new cell bill savings blog called fixmycellbill.blogspot.com/ constantly tracks new ways to cut wireless costs and exposes shady billing practices utilized by the cell phone companies. There's also an online company called Validas at myvalidas.com that cuts the average consumer's cell bill by 22% annually.
Good luck to all of us trying to keeping the cell bills under control.
Dylan
I'm all for cutting my cell phone bill, the best way to do that is to cancel contracts and get a prepaid because they don't have fine print or hidden charges. Since I bought a Tracfone I've been saving over $35 every month, I don't think I have to pay cell tax and if I do it can't be much because I can't seam to find where they are charging cell Tax. Since I got the Tracfone I've also canceled my land line because Tracfone gives me long distance and international calls at the same rate as local calls which means my land line is more expensive and unnecessary - I only had it for emergency's anyway.
Great article - about time consumers started paying attention to their bills and making some decisions. To start with, you can change your monthly contract plan for prepaid and not have to worry about all these taxes and hidden fees. Other benefits from going prepaid include less expensive phones, you buy only the minutes you need - no waste. With plans like NET10 or TracFone you can even roll-over the minutes you don't use so it's easier to manage your budget.
Prepaid phones are a great way to reduce cell phone costs! I used to be obsessed with my Blackberry, but as a college student, could no longer afford to spend all of that money on a contract phone. I decided to switch to prepaid and LOVE IT! I only spend only on the minutes that I use. I can also still text and make long distance calls.