Remember the Maine?

The Treasury Department is finally getting around to getting rid of a tax they came up with to pay for the Spanish-American War.

Back in 1898, Uncle Sam slapped a 3% excise tax on every long distance phone call in the country. After the war ended -- Washington kept collecting the tax.

If you've paid for long distance service in the last three years -- you should get a share of a $15-billion refund. It'll be part of your tax return filed next year.

Typical of Washington to wait until millions of Americans have switched to free long distance with cell phones and Internet phone service before giving a refund on long distance. (TaxProfBlog)