A new study produced by a team of researchers from The Heartland Institute and Beacon Hill Institute finds taxes and fees imposed on cable TV and telephone subscribers are twice as high as the average sales tax on other products.


The average household pays approximately $250 a year in taxes and fees on cable TV and telephone services, and would save $126 a year if taxes and fees on communication services were no higher than retail sales taxes on other goods.


"Consumers pay more than $37 billion a year in communication taxes and fees," said coauthor David Tuerck, executive director of the Beacon Hill Institute and professor and chairman of the Department of Economics at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts.


"Many of these taxes and fees are hidden in phone and cable bills. Because they are so high, they distort consumer decisions and business investment decisions, costing billions more every year in lost consumer benefits," Tuerck said.


The research team collected information on cable television, wireline and wireless telephone, and Internet access for 59 U.S. cities.