 72276539Premium
join:2001-01-19
Atlanta, GA | reply to dlathem
Re: Internet fee Is back! said by dlathem:I have been down at the Alabama Legislature for the last 29 years and they have never passed a specific tax on internet or DSL. I believe this is something that Bellsouth uses to gouge customers and then tries to make them believe that the state is making them charge the tax. It is not a tax in Alabama. Who says it couldn't have been enacted prior to that? Since you are there why not research and back your claim instead of prattling on about something you aren't sure about.
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RIP Dimebag- August 20, 1966 to December 8th, 2004. |
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 OlegBellsouth FastaccessPremium
join:2003-12-08
Birmingham, AL | reply to dlathem
said by dlathem:I have been down at the Alabama Legislature for the last 29 years and they have never passed a specific tax on internet or DSL. I believe this is something that Bellsouth uses to gouge customers and then tries to make them believe that the state is making them charge the tax. It is not a tax in Alabama. Can you tell us how to make BellSouth drop this charge? |
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 BorednessThe LurkerPremium
join:2005-07-07
In Limbo | reply to Oleg
Sweet home Alabamer....I forget the rest!  |
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 ctceoPremium
join:2001-04-26
South Bend, IN
 ·magicjack.com
 ·AT&T U-Verse
 ·AT&T Midwest
| reply to Oleg
PCM101 |
This post almost requires it's own separate thread, but has some relevance here as a comparison bill. |
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OlegBellsouth FastaccessPremium
join:2003-12-08
Birmingham, AL | Can you make scan of this bill bigger? |
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tkdslr
join:2004-04-24
Pompano Beach, FL Reviews:
·Speakeasy
| reply to thehyper1
said by thehyper1:said by dlathem:As far as I know, the Alabama Legislature has imposed NO TAX on internet service. Most likely Bellsouth put it back on and is making up another story to cover. I believe this is part of the standard telecom tax that's levied on all telecom services -- not necessarily just Internet access. Either way, it's been on my bill every month for at least a year. That's as far back as I have copies of my bills. So it's not something new. You're being ripped off.. federal law 108-435 phased out nearly all DSL taxes back in Nov, 2005. Preempted all state taxes on DSL services except for Texas and Michigan.
»frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin···.108.pdf
The FCC recently(Aug, 2006) dumped the USF charge on DSL services.. |
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 dvd536as Mr. Pink as they comePremium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
kudos:4 | reply to Oleg
Oleg do you have POTS service on that phone line? |
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ctceoPremium
join:2001-04-26
South Bend, IN Reviews:
·magicjack.com
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to Oleg
PCM101a |
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OlegBellsouth FastaccessPremium
join:2003-12-08
Birmingham, AL | All I see Is service discount. |
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 mikes60My ParadisePremium
join:2001-07-31
Boynton Beach, FL
 ·Comcast
·AT&T Southeast
·Vonage
| reply to dvd536
said by dvd536:Oleg do you have POTS service on that phone line? I'm sure he must have POTS. All he is showing is page 4 of an 8 page bill. If it was DSL only, it wouldn't be an 8 page bill.
The service fee appears to be an Alabama tax.
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No good deed goes unpunished. |
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RJ44
join:2001-10-19
Nashville, TN | reply to tkdslr
said by tkdslr:You're being ripped off.. Apparently you know exactly what the charge is for or you couldn't make that statement so definitively, so why not enlighten the rest of us? |
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 MizzatWill post for thumbsPremium
join:2003-05-03
Atlanta, GA
kudos:1
·AT&T Southeast
| reply to dlathem
Alabama had classified Internet service as a public utility. As a result, Internet service providers would have to pay, and their customers would have to pay, the same gross receipts tax as BellSouth or as the local water utilities in Alabama.source
On Dec. 3 2004 The Internet Tax Freedom act was signed into public law, but I believe it had a amendment to allow grandfathered taxes.
Things to search for:
Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act
Internet Tax Freedom Act
Other Interesting links:
»www.answers.com/topic/internet-t···edom-act
»frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin···l435.108
(view section 3: SEC. 3. GRANDFATHERING OF STATES THAT TAX INTERNET ACCESS.) |
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ctceoPremium
join:2001-04-26
South Bend, IN Reviews:
·magicjack.com
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to Oleg
I know it's weird, this is what our DSL section always look like, a bunch of nonsense credits, and typically 2 or 3 charges. Can't they just have 2 listings, and why all the cover credits, just make them one. We've changed package since this bill but we remained on the previous package since like April of last year, and it seemed every month to give us strange credit after credit after charge after credit junk like this all the time.
We just switched to Elite about 45 days ago, but it has so far had little effect on the look of our DSL section. |
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| Read the Bill again. It days Sales Tax. The bill said it's for state and local SALES tax. Some states require sales tax to be charged on internet service. Some do not.
If it was like Tennessee when Tennessee had a tax on internet service BellSouth must charge tax because BellSouth has employees and offices in Alabama. It might be different if Bell were only in Georgia and never sent their techs or had Central Offices in the state of Alabama.
There was a fight a few years ago in Tennessee over this. Basically all ISPs in Tennessee had to collect sales tax on net access because they were in Tennessee. Companies like AOL, Prodigy, Earthlink, etc did not claiming they didn't have offices in Tennessee so they were not subject to the tax. After some legal fighting the ISPs won. The ISPs that collected sales tax had to refund the money to their customers and then they had to wait and wait and wait oh and wait for the state to refund it.
Now I am sure that the state will eventually close this loophole and once again charge a tax on internet access. |
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OlegBellsouth FastaccessPremium
join:2003-12-08
Birmingham, AL
1 edit | reply to Oleg
Re: Internet fee Is back! I better pay higher internet access fee knowing it has tax In mind than looking at the bill and say o there Is a tax too. Like going to the store and not knowing what tax will be sometimes. |
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 BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | reply to battleop
Re: Read the Bill again. It days Sales Tax. said by battleop:The bill said it's for state and local SALES tax. Some states require sales tax to be charged on internet service. Some do not. If it was like Tennessee when Tennessee had a tax on internet service BellSouth must charge tax because BellSouth has employees and offices in Alabama. It might be different if Bell were only in Georgia and never sent their techs or had Central Offices in the state of Alabama. There was a fight a few years ago in Tennessee over this. Basically all ISPs in Tennessee had to collect sales tax on net access because they were in Tennessee. Companies like AOL, Prodigy, Earthlink, etc did not claiming they didn't have offices in Tennessee so they were not subject to the tax. After some legal fighting the ISPs won. The ISPs that collected sales tax had to refund the money to their customers and then they had to wait and wait and wait oh and wait for the state to refund it. Now I am sure that the state will eventually close this loophole and once again charge a tax on internet access. I live in Tenn and I DO NOT get charged sales tax on my DSL service. Never have. It's quite clear on my bill. In fact ANY tax on internet service is in violation of FEDERAL LAW which trumps any state law. |
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MizzatWill post for thumbsPremium
join:2003-05-03
Atlanta, GA
kudos:1 Reviews:
·AT&T Southeast
1 edit | said by BF69:I live in Tenn and I DO NOT get charged sales tax on my DSL service. Never have. It's quite clear on my bill. In fact ANY tax on internet service is in violation of FEDERAL LAW which trumps any state law. I believe they included a grandfather clause, and Tennessee did have an Internet tax, and was one of the last to get rid of it, but Alabama still does, apparently. Read my post above and you'll find some great links for a bit more research, but it may not have all the answers you are searching for. |
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