Verizon May Cost Municipalities Millions

The Record (www.northjersey.com) reported today that Verizon Wireless plans to stop paying millions of dollars in property taxes to local New Jersey municipalities by 2011. Currently, Verizon is paying these taxes pusuant to a 1940 statute that requires the predominant “telecomunications carrier” in a municipality to pay taxes on personal property. However, due to the fact that several cable companies are now offering telephone services in addition to traditional cable services, Verizon is no longer the dominant “telecomunications carrier” in several New Jersey municipalities. As a result, Verizon is now arguing that it is no longer required to pay property taxes on its personal property. To read the full article that addresses this issue in more detail, please click the words Property Tax.