Mapanari <The_Lord@anonmail.com> wrote in
news:Xns986E70BC64F16mapi@216.168.3.64:
> "Binba" <drorworld@yahoo.com> wrotenews:1103597391.663425.25520
> @f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
>
>> I recently received my first cellular bill, and was quite shocked by
>> the total amount due. OK, so it included the activation fee.. but $15
>> of fees and surcharges?!
>>
>>>From looking around, I found out that the surcharge is usually
>>>20-25%.
>> But $15 for a $40 plan is more than %35!
>> I spent more than a month doing consumer research for a cell plan,
>> and never heard anything that led me to realize there is no
>> connection between the plan rates and the actuall bill you pay, in
>> such a scale.
>>
>> Questions:
>>
>> 1. Is it going to be like that every month??
>>
>> 2. How are these fees calculated? Are they fixed, or relative to the
>> month's bill or any parts of it?
>>
>>
>> Bill break-up:
>>
>> $500 deposit (paid earlier)
>> $38.66 "Partial monthly charge" for the $40 plan
>> $1.75 messaging
>> $35 activation fee
>> $14.56 taxes, fees and surcharges
>> Totals about $90.
>>
>> And the "fees":
>> Federal Excise Tax - $1.21
>> Federal Universal Service Fund - $1.05
>> City Utility Users Tax - $5.28
>> Telecom Excise Tax - $4.91
>> City 911 - $1.25
>> Regulatory Programs Fee - $0.86
>>
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Drew.
>>
>>
>
>
> BTW...almost all those "taxes" are really scams and lias and the
> government lets them get away with with deception and false
> advertising because the tellycons pay off the politicians with so much
> money funneled directly through "lobbyists".
>
> Only about 2 of those are real honest taxes, the rest are just pure
> profit making charges.
>
> It's giant multi billion dollar yearly scam on the helpless American
> public, kneeling in the dust with the dirty smelly crooked feet of our
> laughing rich corrupt government and politicos on our necks.
>
> mapi
>
Not true- the Federal Excise, City Utility and Telecom Excise taxes are
just that- taxes. No private entity can disguise a fee as a tax and
remain legally compliant. These charges (which interestingly enough
represent the great bulk of the fees) are collected by the company on
behalf of the appropriate government entity and are delivered in their
entirety to those entities- the company gets to keep none of this money.
The Federal Universal Service Fund and City 911 charges are not taxes,
but fees collected again on behalf of a government entity and again
delivered in their entirety to that entity with no cut going to the
business.
The only company-imposed fee is the Regualtory Programs Fee, which is a
total of various government imposed programs (like number portability)
that they are allowed by law to recover some of the cost of.
So, of the $14.56 in question here, the various levels of government
coffer-filling are responsible for $13.70 of the charges. No amount of
whining, complaining or misrepresenting the source of these costs will
make them go away.
Mapi- do a little homework next time before delving into an inaccurate
rant about the source of these costs.
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