WASHINGTON—Virginia’s Senate Finance Committee approved legislation creating a flat tax for mobile phone service and other communications offerings, moving closer to possible passage of a bill with national implications.
The Senate panel agreed to the bill Tuesday by a 12 to 2 vote, with one abstention. The full Senate is set to vote tomorrow on the communications tax measure, sponsored by Delegate Samuel Nixon Jr. (R). Last year, a similar bill backed by Nixon and Sen. Jay O’Brien (R) was thwarted in the Senate.
The mobile phone industry, facing a hodgepodge of state, local and federal taxes, supports the Nixon bill.
If passed by the Virginia legislature before the current session ends on March 11 and signed by Gov. Tim Kaine (D), the Nixon bill would become the first of its kind in the country. Other states also are considering reforms to tax models that have not kept pace with technology and market changes. The wireless industry complains such tax regimes often place an unfair tax burden on wireless carriers and their subscribers.
