Pumps' Perplexities

Here is another good "fee - tax" story.....This one is
via the US Federal Government......


Some 10 years ago the Bill Clinton/Al Gore administration
requested and enacted the Universal Service Fund, (of 1996)......
It was a simple law, just add a little fee to every one's
telephone bill so that the Government could subsidize new
computer telephone lines for the "computer age" in all
schools and libraries......Fair enough.......


The results.......$44 Billion has been collected since
this fee was added to your telephone bill......(It is still there,
if you look for it.).......


In 2006 $6.6 Billion was collected via this "fee"......Now
here comes the good part......$1.7 Billion was, rightly, given
to the schools and libraries.......$8 Hundred Million was given
to smaller funds for service to poor and rural medical
facilities......Still fair enough......But $4.1 Billion was given
to cellular telephone companies........

Cellular telephone companies do not have any telephone
poles or copper wires to maintain......With just a cell tower
in sight of another tower is almost maintenance free......
And if a telephone company offers both "land line" and "cell"
service it gets paid TWICE the subsidy money.......

In fact it even gets more complicated to explain........And
now the Government is talking about "Broadband"
computer fees because the original telephone lines of 10
years ago are becoming outdated......Pumps