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A Proposal on 911 Funding

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We wrote last November on the issue of 911 emergency communications—how it is funded, how the money is collected, the impact of the growth of wireless devices and the decline in landlines, etc.  Officials from counties across the state testified at separate hearings in front of the General Assembly on how they are increasingly funding 911 operations out of general funds and that the surcharge on communication devices that was enabled in 1990 should be changed.

It appears that legislation has been introduced to place “a $1 tax on service providers” that would presumably co-exist with surcharges that fall on landlines (varies by class of county, but no higher than $1.50), the $1 surcharge on wireless phones, and charges on pre-paid phones and minutes purchased in stores.  It is not clear what the tax would do and how it would not simply be placed onto a customer’s bill.  We noted in the piece that so long as the decision is made that emergency communications is to be funded via communication devices and unless there is a massive increase in the number of devices to grow the funding pool (it is hard to believe that there is not) then the surcharges would have to go up.

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Allegheny Institute
Allegheny Institute

The Allegheny Institute is a non-profit research and education organization. Our mission is to defend the interests of taxpayers, citizens and businesses against an increasingly burdensome and intrusive government.

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