Buzzword: Excise tax
Life is hard enough without having to decipher everything. Each week, Marketplace Money brings you a word or a phrase that has bubbled to the top of the news. For instance, "Excise Tax." You hear it, you see it, but do you really know it?
More on Taxes
Unclaimed treasure bring us this week's Marketplace Money buzzword: Excise tax.
The excise tax was a federal levee you used to pay on long-distance phone service. It was enacted in 1898 . . . as a luxury tax, because only a few thousand phone lines existed. Last year, the IRS cancelled it after complaints that, well, times have changed.
This year, individuals can claim a one-time excise refund of at least 30 bucks. But only a third of early filers have done so.
OPERATOR: Hello, tax payers. We have free money on the line. Please accept the call.
