Lake Oswego eyes $400 phantom wireless fee

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

The City of Lake Oswego is considering updates to its municipal code (Ordinances 2931, Ordinance 2965, and Resolution 24-29) that will increase the cost of wireless telecommunications services for local residents through imposition of a new “fee” on phantom uses of the public right of way. This makes it a stealth tax. We hope that they will reject the proposal.

As wireless communications carriers have noted, they, like other businesses in the city, purchase access to broadband via wireline providers. Lacking infrastructure in the public right of way, wireless providers are merely customers of the broadband providers – who already pay a tax on the infrastructure. There is no justification to also tax wireless providers for infrastructure that they do not own and whose use is already taxed.

Ultimately these types of fees are passed on the consumers in the form of higher costs for the services covered by the proposed tax. Families are still reeling from record inflation over the past five years. With everything from food, fuel and a variety of other services already costing local residents more, now hardly seems like the right time to add another costly and regressive tax. There is no practical reason or justification for these new taxes other than to boost the city’s revenues. We urge the City Council to reject this proposal.

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