You may not know it, but a portion of every penny you pay to the government as part of Federal excise taxes on phone usage, has been going to an old fund originally set up to fund the Spanish American War. Way back then, it was a luxury tax on the rich, who were the only people that could afford to own or use a telephone.

 

The article, reported by Rueters, can be read here. 

 

I first learned of this a few months ago on CNN, when one pundit was arguing about taxes or something. Seems a lot of people must have taken note that America was not just funding the current "war on terror", but also a war we'd long since finished.

 

In retrospect, maybe now it all becomes clear why the NSA is tracking our phone usage. Or perhaps, this tax kicker is one way of them saying, "See? We're not going to tax you for the calls we track". I'm sure that will fly with the Republican base. Those measly refunds always tend to do the trick.

 

I find it really odd, the timing of all this.. NSA and Spanish American War... well, when the dust settles, I just hope that our future generations won't still be paying excise taxes on interstellar videocalls (remember 2001?) to fund the Iraq war. After all, we've already won that war, right?

 

Mission Accomplished.

 

David