{"id":5479,"date":"2014-10-14T19:17:35","date_gmt":"2014-10-15T00:17:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=5479"},"modified":"2015-09-29T19:19:40","modified_gmt":"2015-09-30T00:19:40","slug":"october-19-2014-why-pay-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/october-19-2014-why-pay-taxes\/","title":{"rendered":"October 19, 2014–Why Pay Taxes?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Erik Ullestad–West Des Moines, IA<\/div>\n
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\u200b<\/p>\n

Warm-up Question<\/strong><\/p>\n

How do you stay connected with your friends?<\/p>\n

Why Pay Taxes?
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Cell phone usage is at an all-time high.\u00a0 Many people are getting rid of their landline phone and exclusively using a mobile device for all their communication needs.\u00a0 The pre-teen market has grown significantly in the last five years.\u00a0 The average age for a kid\u2019s first cell phone is 11 years old and 77% of kids ages 12-17 have a cell phone.\u00a0 Contributing to this growth in mobile device usage are an abundance of new devices entering the market place (like two varieties of Apple\u2019s new iPhone 6) and wireless service providers that offer a wide variety of monthly plan options suited to the needs of the customer.<\/p>\n

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Phone companies and wireless providers aren\u2019t the only groups who are profiting from the mobile boom.\u00a0 Federal, state, and local governments are seeing increased revenue as a result of taxes applied to cell phone plans.\u00a0 According to a study by the Washington D.C.-based Tax Foundation, the U.S. average combined tax rate for wireless plans is 17.05%.\u00a0 The federal rate is currently fixed at 5.82%, which is added to the varying state-local rates.\u00a0 Washington State has the highest rate at 18.6 percent, compared to neighboring state of Oregon which has the lowest at 1.76 percent.<\/p>\n

For some, the issue of high cell phone taxes is political.\u00a0 Governor Rick Scott has promised to give the people of Florida at $120 million annual reduction in the communications services tax.\u00a0 Others see this as a justice issue.\u00a0 The Centers for Disease control reports that over 56 percent of adults living in poverty have only wireless service as their means of communication.<\/p>\n

Discussion Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n