Well, it took all the will power I had not to butt into the conversation with "it's the fees stupid".
Take a close look at your latest phone bills - cell phone, land line, all of them. You're likely in for a rude awakening.
I had the opportunity to price out new cell phone service for someone in the Dallas Metroplex and was astonished. For 1000 minutes w/ unlimited nights and weekends, the monthly fee was great - $45. But then when the bill came we were astonished to find an additional $15 in taxes and fees. That's basically a 33% tax rate!
Here is the detail for the bill in question:
| Taxes, Fees and Surcharges | |||
| Item | Amount | ||
| Government Fees and Taxes | |||
| Federal Excise Tax | 1.29 | ||
| Federal Universal Service Fund | 1.16 | ||
| State Sales Tax | 4.96 | ||
| State Universal Service Fund | 3.02 | ||
| TIF Reimbursement | 0.98 | ||
| City District Tax | 0.80 | ||
| Local Sales Tax | 0.80 | ||
| State 911 | 0.50 | ||
| Regulatory Programs Fee* | 0.86 | ||
| Taxes, Fees and Surcharges | 14.37 | ||
| *Fee we collect and retain to help cover our costs related to funding and complying with government mandates, programs and obligations. | ||
No wonder SBC and Verizon want to keep their monopoly position so radically protected against municiple providers here in Texas. That $4 in Universal Service Fund money goes right back to them in one form or another. Simply amazing.
