From the articles I’ve read it doesn’t look like it is a tax. The state is requiring the phone carriers to collect $5 from the “customer” instead of all costs being paid by the government program. I don’t think Georgia gets anything out of this but a reduction in fraud.
They are, of course, being sued by a phone company who see Georgia and throwing a block under the wheels of the chuck wagon.
Each cell phone is billed a certain amount each month for 911 service. I wonder if Obama Phones are billed that? I wonder if the vendors that collect the Obama Phone money from the government actually turn it over to the state which disburses to the counties?
I’d start there. And I’d increase that tax significantly just for Obama Phones, sending the tax bill to the user.
The articles I have read lead me to the same conclusion. At $5 (which ain’t all that much), the end user will have some skin in the game