(a) There is hereby imposed upon each separate sale at retail of tangible personal property or services, as defined herein, within this Commonwealth a tax of six per cent of the purchase price, which tax shall, except as otherwise provided, be collected by the vendor or any other person required by this article from the purchaser, and shall be paid over to the Commonwealth as herein provided.

(b) There is hereby imposed upon the use, on and after the effective date of this article, within this Commonwealth of tangible personal property purchased at retail on or after the effective date of this article, and on those services described herein purchased at retail on and after the effective date of this article, a tax of six per cent of the purchase price, which tax shall be paid to the Commonwealth by the person who makes such use as herein provided, except that such tax shall not be paid to the Commonwealth by such person where he has paid the tax imposed by subsection (a) of this section or has paid the tax imposed by this subsection (b) to the vendor with respect to such use, or such vendor advertises or holds out or states to such person directly or indirectly subject to the conditions set forth in section 268(b) that such vendor will pay the tax imposed by subsection (a) or this subsection for such person. The tax at the rate of six per cent imposed by this subsection shall not be deemed applicable where the tax has been incurred under the provisions of the “Tax Act of 1963 for Education.”

(c) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, the tax with respect to telecommunications service within the meaning of clause (m) of section 201¹ of this article shall, except for telegrams paid for in cash at telegraph offices, be computed at the rate of six per cent upon the total amount charged to customers for such services, irrespective of whether such charge is based upon a flat rate or upon a message unit charge, but in no event shall charges for telephone calls paid for by inserting money into a telephone accepting direct deposits of money to operate be subject to this tax. A telecommunications service provider shall have no responsibility or liability to the Commonwealth for billing, collecting or remitting taxes that apply to services, products or other commerce sold over telecommunications lines by third-party vendors. To prevent actual multistate taxation of interstate telecommunications service, any taxpayer, upon proof that the taxpayer has paid a similar tax to another state on the same interstate telecommunications service, shall be allowed a credit against the tax imposed by this section on the same interstate telecommunications service to the extent of the amount of such tax properly due and paid to such other state.

(d) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, the sale or use of food and beverages dispensed by means of coin operated vending machines shall be taxed at the rate of six per cent of the receipts collected from any such machine which dispenses food and beverages heretofore taxable.

(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, tax with respect to sales of prebuilt housing shall be imposed on the prebuilt housing builder at the time of the prebuilt housing sale within this Commonwealth and shall be paid and reported by the prebuilt housing builder to the department in the time and manner provided in this article: Provided, however, That a manufacturer of prebuilt housing may, at its option, precollect the tax from the prebuilt housing builder at the time of sale to the prebuilt housing builder. In any case where prebuilt housing is purchased and the tax is not paid by the prebuilt housing builder or precollected by the manufacturer, the prebuilt housing purchaser shall remit tax directly to the department if the prebuilt housing is used in this Commonwealth without regard to whether the prebuilt housing becomes a real estate structure.

(g) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article and in accordance with the Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act (4 U.S.C. § 116), the sale or use of mobile telecommunications services which are deemed to be provided to a customer by a home service provider under section 117(a) and (b) of the Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act shall be subject to the tax of six per cent of the purchase price, which tax shall be collected by the home service provider from the customer, and shall be paid over to the Commonwealth as herein provided if the customer's place of primary use is located within this Commonwealth, regardless of where the mobile telecommunications services originate, terminate or pass through. For purposes of this subsection, words and phrases used in this subsection shall have the same meanings given to them in the Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act.