Here's the "Surcharges and Taxes" from a normal Verizon,
New York City local phone bill (and it is the same for
Verizon's Freedom packages as well. These taxes are common
throughout the US as well.)
0) ______ Do you feel nauseous just looking
at this mess? (Warm up question)
1) ______ The charges above are the taxes and
surcharges for an entire, average local phone bill.
2) ______ The FCC Line Charge goes to fund the
FCC and is a government tax.
3) ______ The Federal Excise Tax was first put on
to fund the Spanish American War in 1898.
4) ______ The charges above are not correctly
added up and taxed based on June, 2004.
Pick One:
5) ______How many taxes and surcharges are
applied to the FCC Line Charge? a) 1,
b) 3, c) over 6 d) We don't know.
6) ______The taxes and surcharges on the FCC Line
Charge in New York City, from the example above are?
a) 8%, b) 16%, c) 27%.d) 32%
7) ______ The taxes above as compared to the
"dialtone" monthly charge are a) 27%, b) 55%, c) 86%, d)
112%
8) ______ Which statement about the
"Universal Service" Fund is False:
- a) Has been called an "out of control" slush
fund.
- b) Has a "high-cost" fund that gives very
profitable rural companies more money?
- c) Has had a lack of oversight and
competitive bidding?
- d) The Bell phone companies were the largest
recipient of the Universal Service Fund's
"Schools and Libraries" Fund in 2001
9) _____ How many "Truth-in-Billing" violations are
there in this example? a) 3, b) 6, c) at
least 10,
10) _____Money: Surcharges and Taxes on a
Verizon package of local and long distance in New York
(advertised at $59.95) adds annually an additional
a) $25. b) $155, c)$260 d) $302.
11) ______ Which statement is False?:
- a) On an average bundled package of Local and
Long Distance, the taxes above are added to the
advertised price.
- b) Universal Service Fund continues to
increase from 3.9% in 1999 to 8.9% in 3rd Quarter
2004, a 128% increase.
- c) Since 2000, the FCC Line Charge increased
86%, from $3.50 to a cap of $6.50.
- d) Many of the taxes and surcharges are direct
revenue or enrichment to the local phone
companies
12) ______ Which statement is False?:
- a) No regulator examines the phone bill
charges anymore.
- b) Phone bills are almost 100% accurate --
very few mistakes.
- c) Various regulators and politicians now want to
put ALL of these taxes and surcharges on new
services, such as Voice over the Internet (VOIP)
13)______ Bonus Question ----- How do I get
involved to fix this mess?
To
Calculate Your Score, See Answers.
Join
in a Petition to Remove
the FCC Line Charge and Investigate
ALL Charges, and Taxes and
Surcharges.
