2011 budget could eliminate corporate cell phone tax

A little-known and oft-ignored federal tax on company cell phones could become a fee of the past, if lawmakers accept President Barack Obama's forthcoming budget.

The soon-to-be unveiled spending plan repeals the 1989 tax beginning in 2010, a White House official told The Associated Press on Saturday. No longer would employers have to count monthly minutes subsidized by their employers as income subject to tax, as Congress once stipulated.

Ultimately, the White House's simple fix is likely to win lawmakers' support easily. A repeal of the tax cleared the House in 2009, and a similar measure in the Senate garnered wide bipartisan support.