No big news, just another example of how we may as well just wipe our collective noses with the Constitution for all practical purposes.
The FCC is now passing tax increases, even though the Constitution expressly reserves that for the Congress to decide. Not only that, you probably have no idea you pay this tax since the FCC also doesn't feel that it has to disclose it on your phone bill.
Just another example of the contempt of the Constitution and the American poeple by the Bureaucrat Class. Apparently, we're just here to supply them with jobs and revenue.
What's sad is that by today's standards this is really a tiny violation of the old Constitution. Barely a drop in the bucket.
----------------------------------
Deception 101
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
VICE-PRESIDENT AL GORE, aided and
abetted by Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., and
Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, fought for and
succeeded in amending the Telecommunications
Act of 1996 such that a universal services fund
was created to subsidize telecommunications
services for schools, libraries and rural
health-care providers. The subsidies that go into
the fund are collected by way of a charge on
residential and commercial telephone bills, an
e-rate tax that has become popularly known as
the "Gore tax."
In a May 1997 order, the Federal
Communications Commission ordered
telephone companies to start making universal
service "contributions" for the social good of
wiring schools and libraries to the Internet. In
1999, the Federal Communications
Commission, not Congress, raised the federal
telephone e-rate tax by 73 percent.
Do you see anything wrong with this picture?
You should. Any high-school student knows (or
used to know) that only Congress has the
power to tax. In particular, Article 1, Section 7
of the U.S. Constitution reads: "All Bills for
raising Revenue shall originate in the House of
Representatives; but the Senate may propose or
concur with Amendments as on other Bills."
Congress cannot delegate its taxing authority to
any agency. In other words, Congress does not
have the power to grant taxing authority to the
White House, the Supreme Court or to
so-called independent agencies such as the
FCC.
You say: "Come on, Williams, are you serious?
How can the FCC get away with such a flagrant
constitutional violation?" It's easy. It does it
through nothing less than government thuggery.
It conceals and intimidates. Look at your
telephone bill. You'll see taxes and other
charges itemized, but you won't see the Gore
tax (e-rate tax) listed.
Why? The Federal Communications
Commission has forbidden telephone companies
from telling the American people about the tax.
More specifically, the FCC's Truth in Billing
docket (CC98-170) declares, "In contrast, we
would not consider a description of that charge
(e-rate tax) as being "mandated" by the
commission or the federal government as
accurate." The order goes on to read, "Our
view is consistent with the recent decision of the
Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service
which recommended that the Commission
'prohibit carriers from depicting (universal service) charges as ...
mandated by the commission or the federal government by terms or
placement on the bill.'" While telephone companies are mandated or
required to pay into a Universal Services Fund via the Gore tax, if they
use the words "FCC, federal, required or mandated" to list and identify
the e-rate tax on customer telephone bills they will be subject to FCC
retribution. Therefore, when telephone bills rise, we blame telephone
companies, not Congress, not the FCC and not Al Gore.
Do we Americans deserve this deception, deceit and trampling on our
Constitution? I'm of two minds. Americans accept and applaud
government extortion of the tobacco industry and its customers,
government extortion of Microsoft and its customers, and the beginning
extortion of the firearms industry and their customers. So why not accept
and applaud government extortion of the telecommunications industry
and its customers?
But on the other hand, because of the public education establishment's
deliberate dumbing down, most Americans have no idea what the
Constitution is all about, and they are unappreciative of the ongoing
attack on our liberties. With that kind of innocence, we elect the worst
kind of scoundrels to public office, who refuse to allow the Constitution
to stand in the way of their personal agenda. We might deserve what
we're getting, but not our children and their children, who'll be
condemned to a life without the liberties we've known.
The FCC is now passing tax increases, even though the Constitution expressly reserves that for the Congress to decide. Not only that, you probably have no idea you pay this tax since the FCC also doesn't feel that it has to disclose it on your phone bill.
Just another example of the contempt of the Constitution and the American poeple by the Bureaucrat Class. Apparently, we're just here to supply them with jobs and revenue.
What's sad is that by today's standards this is really a tiny violation of the old Constitution. Barely a drop in the bucket.
----------------------------------
Deception 101
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
VICE-PRESIDENT AL GORE, aided and
abetted by Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., and
Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, fought for and
succeeded in amending the Telecommunications
Act of 1996 such that a universal services fund
was created to subsidize telecommunications
services for schools, libraries and rural
health-care providers. The subsidies that go into
the fund are collected by way of a charge on
residential and commercial telephone bills, an
e-rate tax that has become popularly known as
the "Gore tax."
In a May 1997 order, the Federal
Communications Commission ordered
telephone companies to start making universal
service "contributions" for the social good of
wiring schools and libraries to the Internet. In
1999, the Federal Communications
Commission, not Congress, raised the federal
telephone e-rate tax by 73 percent.
Do you see anything wrong with this picture?
You should. Any high-school student knows (or
used to know) that only Congress has the
power to tax. In particular, Article 1, Section 7
of the U.S. Constitution reads: "All Bills for
raising Revenue shall originate in the House of
Representatives; but the Senate may propose or
concur with Amendments as on other Bills."
Congress cannot delegate its taxing authority to
any agency. In other words, Congress does not
have the power to grant taxing authority to the
White House, the Supreme Court or to
so-called independent agencies such as the
FCC.
You say: "Come on, Williams, are you serious?
How can the FCC get away with such a flagrant
constitutional violation?" It's easy. It does it
through nothing less than government thuggery.
It conceals and intimidates. Look at your
telephone bill. You'll see taxes and other
charges itemized, but you won't see the Gore
tax (e-rate tax) listed.
Why? The Federal Communications
Commission has forbidden telephone companies
from telling the American people about the tax.
More specifically, the FCC's Truth in Billing
docket (CC98-170) declares, "In contrast, we
would not consider a description of that charge
(e-rate tax) as being "mandated" by the
commission or the federal government as
accurate." The order goes on to read, "Our
view is consistent with the recent decision of the
Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service
which recommended that the Commission
'prohibit carriers from depicting (universal service) charges as ...
mandated by the commission or the federal government by terms or
placement on the bill.'" While telephone companies are mandated or
required to pay into a Universal Services Fund via the Gore tax, if they
use the words "FCC, federal, required or mandated" to list and identify
the e-rate tax on customer telephone bills they will be subject to FCC
retribution. Therefore, when telephone bills rise, we blame telephone
companies, not Congress, not the FCC and not Al Gore.
Do we Americans deserve this deception, deceit and trampling on our
Constitution? I'm of two minds. Americans accept and applaud
government extortion of the tobacco industry and its customers,
government extortion of Microsoft and its customers, and the beginning
extortion of the firearms industry and their customers. So why not accept
and applaud government extortion of the telecommunications industry
and its customers?
But on the other hand, because of the public education establishment's
deliberate dumbing down, most Americans have no idea what the
Constitution is all about, and they are unappreciative of the ongoing
attack on our liberties. With that kind of innocence, we elect the worst
kind of scoundrels to public office, who refuse to allow the Constitution
to stand in the way of their personal agenda. We might deserve what
we're getting, but not our children and their children, who'll be
condemned to a life without the liberties we've known.