Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - The sham of the surcharge... yet another tax on us.

Cynthetiq · 07-16-2003, 11:50 AM

Last night my wife is looking at bills. We both have a cellphones and both have the same plan for 34.99 for blah blah minutes, free nights and weekends. She says to me that neither of us went over our minutes, but she's paying more on her bill. She looks at it and discovers she's paying more tax than I am. How can that be??? We should be paying the same amount of tax.

Here's the break down of the taxes.

my bill:
FEDERAL TAX 1.14
STATE TAX 1.66
LOCAL TAX 1.57
911 SURCHARGE 1.20
LOCAL WIRELESS SURCHARGE .30
UNIVERSAL CONNECTIVITY CHARGE .73
GROSS RECEIPTS SURCHARGE 1.23
TOTAL TAXES, SURCHARGES & REGULATORY FEES 7.83

wife's bill:
FEDERAL TAX 1.17
STATE TAX 1.60
LOCAL TAX 1.65
911 SURCHARGE 1.20
NY CITY UTILITY G.R. SUR .72
LOCAL WIRELESS SURCHARGE .30
UNIVERSAL CONNECTIVITY CHARGE .73
GROSS RECEIPTS SURCHARGE 1.23
TOTAL TAXES, SURCHARGES & REGULATORY FEES 8.60

WTF is this Local Wireless Surcharge? WTF is this Gross Reciepts Surcharge? and WTF is this Local NYC G.R. Surchage?

I call up customer service and ask why the difference in taxes for the SAME SERVICE and SAME PLAN. We should be paying the SAME AMOUNT!!!!

Roxanne the customer service agent cannot answer my questions and keeps me putting me on hold while she's researching this "Surcharge" stuff. I'm googling my butt off and she comes back EMPTY. She's no idea as to why it's on the bill but we are required to pay it. I inform her of what I found, and why I'm pissed off.

First let's define what a surcharge is... Surcharge is an additional charge to be applied to the customer's bill for telecommunication services. This charge is not a tax but an additional charge that has been approved by the appropriate regulatory body.

Let's now breakdown the surchages and extras:

911: This charge is generally imposed on the consumer using wireless telecommunications, either as a tax or as a surcharge to fund a 911 emergency system.

Gross Receipts Surcharge: A tax on the privilege of doing wireless business in the state measured by the gross receipts received from business done in the state. This tax is typically imposed on the wireless telecommunications provider; however, some states allow the provider to pass on the tax to the consumer.

Statutory Gross Receipts Surcharge: A tax on the privilege of doing business in the state measured by gross receipts received from business done in the state. This tax is typically imposed on the telecommunication provider; however, some states allow the provider to pass on the tax to the consumer.

Universal Service Fund Surcharge: A surcharge imposed on wireless telecommunication providers that may be passed on to customers for the purpose of providing the availability of basic telecommunication services for all at an affordable price.

The Local Wireless Surcharge I was not able to get a suitable answer.

So far I've been on the phone for at least 2 hours trying to hunt down why she's got an extra US$.30 charge for the NY Utility GR Surcharge and I don't. The customer service people all stated the same thing to me, take it up with your local government we don't know why you are getting charged differently, but you are and that's all that I can talk to you about this according to my local policies and procedures. Why in god's name are they allowed to PROFIT from me and then PASS TAXES that they should pay right back to me??????

If there is a mistake like this small one, times ONE MILLION customers, it's an extra US$300,000.

Here is a journalist's take on the whole situation

Quote:

MP Digest Nov 2002

Talk about “taxation without representation”...have you ever REALLY looked at all the various taxes tacked on to your monthly cell phone bill? It’s mindboggling. For instance, consider the Federal excise tax, which hits you up for 3% of interstate cell charges. Here’s the rub: this tax was imposed in 1898 to help fund the Spanish American War. “How can that be?” one might ask, logically, as there certainly were no cell phones back then. The tax, levied on interstate telephone calls, was never repealed and was later grandfathered onto cell phone bills. I find that quite amazing. Actually, I don’t know why I’m surprised. This sort of nonsense happens across the board, thanks to outrageous tax laws like this one that fall through the cracks when some intelligent person tries to have them repealed. It’s even worse in New York City, where you have the State gross receipts surcharge of 3.9%, which was originally a tax on regulated monopolies passed on to consumers. According to the New York Daily News (Oct. 6), this tax was originally imposed on the New York Telephone Co., “a precursor of Verizon, when telephone service was a regulated monopoly. ‘It was a tax on total profits that was passed along to consumers,’ said Mark Carey, spokesman for the state Finance Department. Soon a city gross receipts surcharge was added, also on telephone company profits.” And here’s a really good one: “Most mysterious is the NY Local McTD tax on wireless bills, sometimes spelled out, depending on the carrier, but often folded into local taxes...Turns out that NY Local McTD sales tax goes to funding transportation needs in 12 counties in the metropolitan area, Niagara Falls and Albany, according to the state controller’s office. The acronym stands for Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District.” I thought it was bad enough when surcharges on my landline phone went to benefit our local commuter railroads, but this borders on ridiculous!