Lawmakers Consider Pole Tax Exemption Extension

By David Darman on Wednesday, March 17, 2004.

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A bill before the New Hampshire lawmakers would extend a local property tax exemption for thousands of telephone poles.

Cities and towns want to end the exemption.

But the stateâ€™s largest regulated telephone company disagrees.

New Hampshire Public Radioâ€™s David Darman has more.

Without an exemption from the state, regulated telephone companies like Verizon would have to pay local property taxes on their poles.

Maura Carroll of the New Hampshire Municipal Association says reinstating the local property tax for these companies would only be fair.
01 56 we have an exemption for multi million dollar corporations from the property tax. The same property is taxed when its owned by electric utilities, not by telephone utilities.

Supporters of the exemption say thereâ€™s good reason it should be extended.

For one thing, a state tax on telephone poles was repealed fourteen years ago, and replaced by the Communications Services tax that land line customers pay on their monthly bills.

Verizon officials say ending the exemption would also put its regulated subsidiary at a disadvantage.

Erle Pierce is Verizonâ€™s New Hampshire lobbyist.

He says its unfair to force Verizonâ€™s wire line customers to pay for something wireless customers would not have to pay.
07 215 if you do tax just a single delivery system, in this case wire line, and it puts an increase on just those wireline bills, it does give an incentive for those wire line customers to now look at wireless as a more attractive option, because their prices didnâ€™t go up. 07 233 and in our market, price is king.

No one is exactly sure how much lifting the exemption could raise.

But estimates range from 20 to 40 million dollars.

That money would clearly flow right back to cities and towns.

Representative David Hess of Hooksett is the sponsor of the bill extending the exemption.

He says the municipal windfall would cost individual taxpayers, and complicate their monthly bills.
11 120 the amount of taxes that are going to be imposed if this exemption is relieved is going to be paid by the citizens of the same towns and cities that claim they are going to be getting a windfall in taxation. 11 131 so instead of having six charges on our land line telephone bills, weâ€™re going to have seven taxes. 11 137

If extended, the exemption would last through 2006.

The House is expected to take up the bill later today.