Western Telepage, Inc. v. City of Tacoma Department of Financing

We must decide in this case if the City of Tacoma’s (Tacoma) local public utility tax on paging services is consistent with the state law definition of a taxable telephone business under RCW 82.04.065(4), and whether Tacoma’s tax constitutes an excessive increase in a tax rate pursuant to RCW 35.21.710. Insofar as paging services involve the transmission of data by microwave systems, we conclude Tacoma’s local public utility tax on paging services is consistent with RCW 82.04.065. We also hold Tacoma’s taxation of paging services under its public utilities tax does not violate RCW 35.21.710,…