Illinois cell phone customers already pay some of the highest government fees and taxes in the country. So imagine the sticker shock of paying multiple cities’ taxes on your monthly bills.
Nicole Miller of Lisle said when her Sprint contract was about to expire she started scrolling through her statements looking at her plan’s features to see if she could save money on a new contract.
“When I hit taxes, that’s where I see three different cities that I’m being taxed for: Plainfield, Lisle and Chicago,” Miller said.
Government fees and taxes are nothing new to cell phone customers. However, Miller discovered she had been paying two additional cities’ taxes on top of Lisle’s.
It added up to hundreds of dollars.
“I (previously) lived in Plainfield. I moved to Lisle. I’ve never lived in Chicago, but my brother is on my account and he lives in Chicago,” Miller said. “But I own all the phones. So why am I getting charged three different taxes? Shouldn’t they all be under my address?”
Miller said she updated her billing address with Sprint when she moved to Lisle in 2014.
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Miller called Sprint after discovering the additional cities’ taxes on her bill and said the company told her it would issue her a $40 credit and would put it through a dispute.
NBC 5 Responds contacted Sprint to see if they could further investigate the taxes on Miller’s statements.
That’s when Miller said she learned the three phone numbers on her account each had an address.
“That’s something that they never corrected when I changed my address,” Miller said.
Federal law requires cell phone users to only pay taxes and fees in their place of primary use.
Sprint calculated the tax difference and later credited Miller’s account $154.
“I was really happy that they were able to get it done so quickly and that NBC was able to reach out to them,” Miller said. “I do urge people to look at their bills. A lot of people are enrolled in automatic pay and that’s fine, but still, look at the bills.”
Sprint told NBC 5 Responds that it corrected the tax jurisdiction for Miller’s future bills.
Tax Foundation, a non-partisan organization, said Illinois has the fourth highest cell phone taxes and fees in the country. When factoring the federal rate of 6.46%, the combined rate in Illinois is 23.92%, according to Tax Foundation.
“People get charged the wrong taxes on their bills now and then,” said a Tax Foundation spokesperson. Check your bills now and then and make sure the taxes and fees imposed are the ones related to your address.”
