The next time you pay your cellphone bill, take a closer look at the section that explains about the government fees and taxes you’re paying. Have you ever noticed one called “Federal Universal Service Fund”? You probably didn’t know what that meant, but it means that you’re buying cellphones for other people.
The predecessor of the Universal Service Fund had its origin years and years ago as a way to pay for home phones for people who couldn’t otherwise afford them. (It was originally high long-distance fees that subsidized free phone lines.) Even after the current system started, the fee was pretty tiny, so nobody much complained about this tiny bit of socialism. It was just another itty bitty tax.
But that tiny little tax has become a monster that’s rife with fraud and abuse — and you’re paying for every bit of it.
Baltimore television station WBFF did a report a few months ago showing that some people are abusing the system in a serious way. A woman interviewed on a Baltimore street shows the TV news crew all the phones she has in her purse — and she told the reporter that she had even more at home. (See the video report below.)
“I have … like … six in my purse now,” the woman says as she pulls various phones out. “Each and every one of these phones works. At home, I know I have about 30 — and all of them are on.”
If you want to see whether you qualify for a free phone, you can check out one of the many sites online that make money by being middle men between eligible poor people and the dollars you send to the federal government. Take a look at FreeGovernmentCellPhones.net, for instance.
Maybe you don’t see anything wrong with it. Maybe you’re happy to pay extra money each month to hand out free phones (and free minutes) to people who can’t afford to buy their own.
Or maybe you still think it’s theft to forcibly take money out of one person’s pocket and give it to another person. It’s not just the fraud and abuse that bother me about this — as bad as those are. It bothers me because it’s theft, pure and simple.
jb
July 20, 2012 @ 1:03 am
Lessee -
Social Security
The IRS Tax Code
Medicare
State (6.25% in Texas out of 8.25% total), the other 2% to “local”
Local (which local refuses the 2%?) Can you spell N-O-N-E?
Property (which means we are all truly but just renters of the land we supposedly own)
Sales beyond sales
Vehicle – purchase tax, registration, driver’s license, inspection . . .
Roads – tolls on top of taxes paid to build the flipping roads
Excise taxes (tires, batteries – had to buy a new one today)
Gas (Petroleum and gummint)
Boats and watercraft . . .cain’t float da boat if ya don’t pay gummint . . .
Bears shitting in the woods -not yet taxed, but fish in the sea – you owe 40 bucks per year. Hunting deer – a natural resource? No, deer belong to gummint – pay up, citizen!
Sewage – tax on shit. Obvious.
Commitment for life to your Love – uh, well, you need a marriage license so the state can approve you hooking up ($20 – $60+)
Income (do not get me started)
Gummint forced payments to X’s and that silly crap called “alimony”
Gasoline – mafia racket
My smokes? Sweet Jesus -what a case or rape!
You like spirits? Bend over big time.
Dogs. Each cost 30 bucks a year minimum
Wife (wants another diamond). Not directly gummint’s fault, but they take so much money otherwise you cain’t afford another diamond . . . which means . . . as usual . . .
No. “Lonely days and lonely nights” (hum along)
Cell phones? Lost in the mix.
Taxes = extortion.
No other possibility. Gummint gits ya. I mighta missed a couple, but . . .
That’s gummint’s job – legal theft.