Report: Tax rates on cell phones can be steep

Oregon, for example, has the country’s lowest average state and local rate for cell phones: 1.81 percent. But the state’s neighbor to the north, Washington, has the second-highest rate among states: 17.95 percent.

At 18.64 percent, Nebraska had the highest average state and local rate for cell phones. 

According to the report from Scott Mackey, at KSE Partners in Vermont, Americans now face, on average, a 16.3 percent rate on their cell phones, when combining federal, state and local levies – roughly twice as much as the average retail sales tax rate. 

The Tax Foundation has also asserted that states are fans of taxes on cell phones because it allows them to raise revenues largely out of sight.