HACKENSACK, NJ (AP) -- Verizon is telling New Jersey towns that it will stop paying local taxes on utility poles, wires and other equipment because people are using other means to communicate.
Municipal leaders in cash-strapped towns say the loss of revenue could force them to shift the costs to homeowners.
The Record of Bergen County reports Verizon is using a 1940 state law to argue traditional telephone use has slipped significantly as people turn to cable and the Internet for phone services.
Verizon says the law requires the company to pay taxes on landline equipment only when it is the dominant provider. The company says it is losing more than 35,000 residential phone customers a month due to competition.
The state attorney general is looking into whether Verizon is following the law.
Meadowlands Stadium Construction Update - 7/6/2009 They're still working on the new home of the Giants and Jets football teams. Check out these photographs of taken over the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, NJ by Tom Kaminski in Chopper 880.
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