New York – Consumers Face Steep $150 Million Phone Tax Hike

New York – The federal “Universal Service Fund” (USF) long-distance phone tax paid by New York State residents would jump from $407 million to an estimated $555 million under a controversial plan backed by Verizon, USTelecom, AT&T and other big phone companies, according to a warning issued by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) New York State chapter, New York State Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) and the Keep Universal Service Fund Fair Coalition, Washington, D.C.

The USF tax hike would take a bad situation and make it even worse: New York State consumers already pay much more into the controversial USF than they get back — and now the disparity would grow by another $150 million. As if paying too much USF tax wasn’t bad enough, the extra money would flow to pay for widespread waste and abuse, such as per-line subsidies of $13,500 per year for phone lines going into a resort community in Maui, Hawaii! [PRNewswire-USNewswire]