Alaska cell phone taxes are higher than the national average - The Center Square

(The Center Square) - Alaskans are presently saddled with a 26.5% taxation complaint for their compartment phones, higher than astir of the country, according to a caller study released Tuesday.

Alaska ranked 16th among states with the highest compartment telephone taxes successful the Tax Foundation’s 2022 study examining excise taxes and fees connected wireless services. It recovered taxes and fees accrued nationally for the 5th consecutive year.

The nationalist mean wireless and wide income and usage taxation rates reached 25.39% successful 2022, up from 24.96% successful 2021 and a melodramatic summation from 2003 erstwhile the study said the mean was 15.27%. 

The state-local complaint for wireless work successful Alaska is 14.27%, the Tax Foundation said. Combined with the Federal Universal Service Fund complaint of 12.24%, Alaskans are paying a 26.5% taxation complaint for their compartment telephone usage.

Illinois had the highest wireless taxes and fees astatine 34.89%. The lowest was Idaho astatine 15.04%, the study found.

In galore states, section taxes and fees connected wireless services revealed a disparity erstwhile compared to wide income taxation rates. Alaska was among the worst successful this respect. Its state-local income taxation is 2.50% compared to the state-local wireless taxation of 14.27%.

Alaskans wage an estimated $3.46 successful state-local taxes for a single-line wireless plan, the report found.

H.R. 3086, known arsenic the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act, would amend the Internet Tax Freedom Act to permanently forestall states and section governments from besides taxing net access.

“Without the extortion of the national law, the precocious excise taxation rates applied to taxable wireless services could beryllium applied to net entree and user taxation burdens would beryllium importantly higher,” wrote the authors of the report.

Census Bureau information shows astir 52% of a emblematic measure for a wireless enactment is taxable wireless service, portion the remainder is usually non-taxable net access.

The study warned taxes connected wireless services are regressive and load low-income taxpayers much than high-income taxpayers. Furthermore, lowering wireless taxes and fees could summation concern successful wireless infrastructure, starring to much palmy businesses, the instauration of much jobs, and healthier economies, offsetting immoderate perceived short-term nonaccomplishment of taxation gross for governments, according to the report.

“Lawmakers should beryllium cautious erstwhile expanding regressive taxation burdens, peculiarly successful the lawsuit of a targeted excise taxation that does not meaningfully internalize immoderate outer harms and often acold exceeds immoderate magnitude indispensable to wage for related authorities programs,” the authors wrote.