The Treasury has finally conceded defeat after a series of court cases has shot huge holes in the long-distance phone excise tax. The tax was originally levied to pay for the Spanish-American War in 1898 and was based on the length and distance of calls. Back then it was a luxury tax.

The advent of unlimited calling plans a century later gave lawyers an excuse to topple the tax in courts and over the last few years various cases around the country have created a patchwork of results with some regions allowing it and others invalidating it.

So the Treasury has finally agreed to stop collecting the tax and make refunds available on 2006 income tax returrns, reports the New York Times. Individuals pay around $18 a year but business stands to be the big winner and will get 60 percent or more of the estimated $15 billion in refunds that will be going out next year.

There will still be plenty of miscellaneous charges and taxes on phone bills. States and localities love to add a percent or two and the companies themselves collect fees for property taxes and fees to pay for collecting taxes!

And cell phones are anything but tax-free. “Wireless consumers can now turn their attention and efforts to repealing discriminatory wireless taxes on the state and local level,” Steve Largent, the president of CTIA, a trade group that represents cellular companies, tells the paper. Amen!