Insight Challenges Kentucky Tax
By Steve Donohue -- Multichannel News, 11/9/2001 11:57:00 AM
Insight Communications Co. Inc. sued the Kentucky Department of Revenue Friday, asking a circuit court to declare a state property tax unconstitutional.
The MSO argued in the complaint that a tax levied on utility companies and telephone companies should not apply to Insight since it does not have a monopoly in the state. Insight noted that satellite companies, which do not have to pay the tax, have accumulated 411,000 subscribers in the state, with the satellite-customer base jumping 8 percent in the past year.
'[The law] was intended to apply to public utilities that are monopolylike. Cable companies are neither utilities nor monopolies, and they receive no benefit, privilege, or advantage in exchange for the increased tax liability,' Insight wrote in the complaint, which was filed in Franklin Circuit Court.
If Insight succeeds, the company expects to reduce its tax expenses by $5.5 million annually in Kentucky, chief operating officer Kim Kelly said Friday.
'We would, dollar for dollar, give that back to our customers,' she added.
No related content found.
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
