Is the telephone making a comeback in Lacey? City projects revenue growth from that tax
After falling steadily for nearly a decade, revenues from the utility tax tied applied to landline telephones is projected to increase in 2023, the city’s finance director told Lacey City Council on Thursday.
Troy Woo wasn’t ready to declare it a trend reversal, but at least for next year he is projecting a revenue increase of $86,000 to about $555,000 total, he said. However, that’s still down from the $1.25 million in telephone utility tax revenue collected in 2014.
Why has it fallen so sharply? The tremendous shift to the smart phone from the landline, he said.
Woo pointed out that in the early days of the iPhone, Apple sold about 1.5 million units a year, but last year 242 million iPhones were sold.
Council member Lenny Greenstein asked the question everyone was thinking: So why is the phone tax projected to go up now?
Woo pointed to two areas: recent property annexations by the city, and population growth in the city.
Three annexations come to mind: the Capitol City Golf Club area, the Steilacoom and Marvin Road annexation, which brought 1,100 county residents into the city, and the annexation of the Lake Lois area near Carpenter Road.
“It’s one year,” Woo emphasized about his projection. “We will see if the trend changes.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2022 at 5:15 AM.
