The following may be attributed to Free State Foundation President Randolph May:
“Today the FCC announced that the so-called Universal Service Fund “contribution factor” for the fourth quarter of 2019 will be 25%. What this means is that this 25% surcharge —in economic reality, a tax —will be added to consumers' telephone bills for all interstate and international calls. For comparison’s sake, in the fourth quarter of 2001, 2010, and 2015, the USF surcharge was 7%, 13%, and 17%, respectively.
Much of what the USF subsidies support through collection of the surcharge is worthwhile. But the fact of the matter is that sooner or later — and perhaps sooner — consumers are going to wake up to the fact that the USF tax on interstate and interstate calls is now 25%. When they do, public support for the various universal service subsidies may diminish rapidly.
It is incumbent upon the FCC — and Congress — to look seriously at further meaningful reforms to increase the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of the USF programs and to increase even further efforts to weed out waste, fraud, and abuse."
Posts
