Tax and Spend

The FCC steals money from urban and suburban phone customers and gives it to rural phone customers.

"The FCC's Universal Service Fund has a noble goal: using a small fee on all U.S. landlines to subsidize universal phone coverage throughout the country. But a recent report reveals that this early 20th century program's design is wildly at odds with 21st centur realities: Its main effect now is that poor people living in urban areas are subsidizing rich people living in the country. The FCC says that it's already enacted reforms to combat some of the worst abuses in the report — like subsidies to rural areas that add up to $24,000 per line — but even the $3,000 per line cap now in place seems absurd."

And it's not even called a tax. It's a fee.