Tom’s weblog

Took a look at my T-Mobile wireless bill this weekend and the city utility tax charge is still there, bit more than bothersome that. I did a little searching and found that Olympia levies a 9% taxes on phone service. So I called them up again asking where I can send information showing that my address is not in the city, will hear back from someone this week.

Upon reflection, I realize this would make a lovely class action lawsuit. There must be many thousands of people out there who are being charged these fees for localities they do not reside in and do not realize it.

It also occurred to me that I bet the sales tax they charge is also at the Olympia rate, not only does this compound my irritation but it is illegal. The law is that they must charge the rate for where the service is delivered, my house in this case. Perhaps a call to the Department of Revenue is in order to get these guys smacked down.

Something for those of you out there who don’t live in a city. I was just looking at my cellular bill and noticed they are charging me a City Utility Users Tax. Well, I do not live in the city and feel that I pay enough in sales taxes which I cannot avoid to the city when shopping that I need not send more of my money to them. I called the company to get rid of this and was told that they base whether to charge this tax on the zip code which very inaccurate, my zip code covers two cities and about a quarter of the county. Hopefully they can clear this up and I can stop having to pay about 3.50 a month for service I don’t receive, not much but it does add up. If you don’t live in the city then check your bill and make sure there are not any incorrect charges there.