Starting in July (ok so I'm a little late), you'll be seeing the cost of your land-line phone service drop a bit, courtesy of the federal government. Since 1898, the US government has collected a 3 percent tax on all long distance phone calls. This shows up on your bill as "federal excise tax," and was enacted to fund the Spanish-American War. Although the war itself ended over a century ago, the tax remained. This week, Congress and the Treasury Department finally caved in to years of pressure from interest groups ranging from consumer advocacy organizations to major corporations, and announced that the tax will end on June 30, 2006. A similar tax on local calls will remain in place for now.

"The tax was defended by the Internal Revenue Service as recently as 2005, even though litigation has repeatedly determined the tax to be illegal."

read the full article here...

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I guess the tax was targeted at those affluent individuals who actually had a phone in 1898, they were primitive to be sure, like this 1896 Wilhelm Candlestick model.

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Makes you wonder, how many other ridiculous taxes are we paying because nobody has noticed (well nobody from the paying population, you can rest assured the IRS isn't going to bring these to our attention).

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The heat let up finally, it's in the high 60's/low 70's today with zero humidity and a comfortable breeze. Hopefully it stays this way at least through the weekend, not that I have any plans (other than spending time with my sons and possibly hitting a movie tomorrow).

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I Found out yesterday my son and I are going to a potentially amazing show September 27th at the Webster in Hartford, CT. Four bands, three of which we both love.

1. Jack's Mannequin

2. Copeland

3. The Hush Sound

4. Daphne loves Derby

I can't wait to see The Hush Sound again, I love those guys, and Jack's Mannequin is fast becoming one of my favorite groups as well. I called my son yesterday and he's really exited, his brother refuses to go, I wish he would reconsider, but I don't think he will. He is pretty stubborn. We will have our time together soon, I'm taking him to see a Broadway show for his birthday in October (he's a mega big fan of Musicals, I have much to learn from him .. I mean I had never even heard of Rent before some blogger friends started reviewing the film version).

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CRANK CALL FRIDAY

this one is NOT work safe, but incredibly funny. An unsuspecting man calls Frank Rizzo (Jerky Boys) after reading an add which offers placement in a major TV Game show. Frank is in rare form, have a listen it's hysterical..

Game Show Lovers

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Have a great weekend everybody :)