
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, November 8, 1994                   TAG: 9411080127
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIENNA                                LENGTH: Short

NORTHERN VA. TOWN PLANS TO TAX CELLULAR PHONES

Talk could be a lot less cheap in Vienna soon if town officials follow through on a plan to levy a special tax on cellular telephone users.

A $3 monthly tax would be applied to anyone subscribing to cellular phone service in Vienna, Town Manager John Schoeberlein said. A public hearing on the proposal is set for later this month.

The General Assembly passed a law this year allowing municipalities to collect as much as $3 a month per user, and a few cities, including Charlottesville and Lynchburg, are cashing in.

The state's several hundred thousand cellular subscribers could add $10 million to local tax revenues if all jurisdictions levied the full tax, one legislative estimate found.

So far, no jurisdictions in northern Virginia have adopted a car-phone tax.

``We anticipate growing revenue simply because the use of cellular phones has increased dramatically over the last few years and will continue,'' Schoeberlein said.

Alexandria, Fairfax County and the city of Fairfax area also considering a tax.

Vienna already taxes residents $3 a month for traditional, wired phones. ``We see the whole issue of the cellular tax as a fairness issue,'' Schoeberlein said.

by CNB