DrTCP
Yours truly
Premium,ExMod 1999-04
join:1999-11-09
Round Rock, TX
| USF is not a tax
AFAIK, a federal tax can only be instituted by the Congress only!
USF is a "fund" that is mandated by FCC to provide local phone service to the poor and also to fund the public library Internet systems. It was never intended to be collected from the end user but the general practice is that telco pass it down to the consumer.
Contrary to the belief, FCC does not collect these funds. The funds collected stay with the company (telco) and telco was supposed to take money from this fund in exchange for the service it is providing to the poor and the libraries etc. Who knows what else the telco is doing with the money (perhaps feeding a number of lobbiests, politicians etc.) |
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Smokey
Even drunk on a bet ya make it to Canada
Premium
join:2003-05-20
Va Beach
clubs:
 ·Cox HSI
|  well it's basically a tax. And it was passed by congress in the Telco act of 1996! This gave the FCC the power to asses and regulate the "fund" as they see fit, with congress's oversight!
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If there is any realistic deterrent to marriage, it's the fact that you can't afford divorce. -- Jack Nicholson |
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DrTCP
Yours truly
Premium,ExMod 1999-04
join:1999-11-09
Round Rock, TX
| A Tax is collected by the US Treasury. USF is not a tax (technically) and is collected by the Telco and money stays with the Telco. There is little oversight by the FCC on the collected money and much less by the Congress. The USF is the dream fund for the Telcos and telcos represent it as "tax" because it is convenient to do so on their end because otherwise people would object. Telecom act of 1996 required setting aside funds from Telcos. Telecom act of 1996 did not mandate the collection of these funds from the end user. Passing is as tax is actually illegal. It would be taxation without representation. |
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Smokey
Even drunk on a bet ya make it to Canada
Premium
join:2003-05-20
Va Beach
clubs:
·Cox HSI
| Ya I get what ur saying dr, know that the say its a tax so u don’t call them about it. My point was that when the farmers called there congress men to get the concession, congress passed it. So in my mind its a Proxy tax, everyone knew that it'd be passed on to us. The oversight I meant is that congress can an overturn any ruling the FCC makes. After all the FCC is part of the EXE. branch and congress sets the laws that they use to make there rules1
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If there is any realistic deterrent to marriage, it's the fact that you can't afford divorce. -- Jack Nicholson |
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LegoPower77
Abecedarian
Premium
join:2002-08-03
Arlington, VA
| reply to DrTCP
Yeah, like the employers pay 7.65% (somewhere around there) of the social security tax and we pay the other 7.65% (ditto). The effect of it is as if we pay the whole amount because the eeevil business just shifts the burden to us by reducing benefits in some way. Now I don't know the specifics of this fund, but I would guess there is some accountability as to how it is spent. So when the eeevil phone company keeps the money, but doesn't have the choice as to how it is spent, it is just like a tax which is why it shows up on our phone bills.
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»www.gmu.edu/departments/economic···any.html |
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aztecnology
O Rly?
Premium
join:2003-02-12
Murrieta, CA |  Call it what you want, they still take your money... |
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