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The future of a tax on your cell phones, satellite and cable tv services is in question tonight. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the case pits satellite providers against cable companies. At stake is billions in state tax revenue.

Direct TV and other satellite subscribers pay the state about 11 and a half percent each month in what is know as the communications services tax. Cable pays less. 40 percent less But Cable also pays local governments a fee to run their wires along and under the street.

In a case that has made it to the State Supreme Court, the Department of Revenue acknowledged the higher satellite tax was an attempt to tax both satellite and cable at the same rate.

“And in every year examined in this case, satellite providers  enjoyed a tax advantage over their pay TV competitor, cable” DOR Attorney Jonathan Williams told the Justices.

But Direct TV’s attorney, Eric Shumsky, said the company doesn’t need the poles and wires and the city or state right away to deliver its product, making the higher satellite fee unconstitutional.

“If the legislature said we’re gonna tax bread at five percent if you bake the bread in the state, and we’re gonna tax at ten percent if it was baked outside the state, that would violate the dormant commerce clause” says Shumsky.

Justice Barbara Pariente worried outloud about the impact on consumers.

“Like I said, in the end we’re really talking about customers. They’re the ones who are gonna get screwed or helped depending on what goes on here” said Parente.

Afterwards, none of the lawyers would talk to us. It’s a sure sign there’s a lot of money at stake.

And attorneys on both sides looked equally worried about the outcome. They may have to wait months for the court to decide.

The tax brings in just over two billion dollars a year for the state. No court in any other state has found the tax unfair or unconstitutional.