Charles Shiflett Column January 9, 2005

By Any Other Name It's Still A Tax

It was just a small blurb in a business publication I was reading and I almost looked past it. I mean,
who wants to read an article about some "universal service fund"? Smelling a rat, my conservative
backbone straightened up a little and I quickly scanned the piece.

My fears were realized as another money grab by unelected government officials was exposed. Seems
the Federal Communications Commission decided that cell phone owners wouldn't notice or mind a
small increase in their monthly bills.

What's a few more dollars per year when the proceeds are contributed to the gallant cause of funding
telecom services for schools, hospitals, and libraries? I could fill this page with arguments concerning
the constitutionality of our federal government even being involved in funding local services like these,
but that's for another day.

The first part of the problem I'm concerned with is that decisions to boost various government "fees"
are increasingly being made by unelected bureaucrats. If a city council, county commission, or state
legislature wants to raise taxes, then that's within their rights and they have to defend their actions to
the voters each term.

When unelected officials raise some obscure fee, they seldom have to answer to the public. If they are
challenged, we are almost always given some gobbledygook answer designed to make us feel like
heels for opposing their noble efforts to help the "less fortunate" or "the children" with money they
confiscated from us.

Of course the next step is to question the elected officials of the government body that created a
particular board or commission and appointed its unelected members. Once again we'll usually get
this classic answer… "The board is an autonomous body and its members are operating within their
legal authority to modify this fee."

It doesn't seem to matter that Mr. Elected Official created this board and gave its members the
authority to raise this fee. No, he gets to pass the buck knowing that very few of his constituents will
connect the dots and hold him ultimately accountable.

At every level of government we are seeing more and more power transferred from elected officials to
unelected ones. It's a nice way to insulate one's self from the wrath of the voters and it usually works.
Now let's move on to the second part of the problem.

Whether imposed by elected officials or their unelected appointees, many of these fees are just taxes
in disguise. For example, if it costs the government $11 to issue a drivers license, yet they charge
$15…then $4 of the license fee would actually be a tax because it's collected in excess of what is
required to perform the service.

Over the last several years there's been a quickly growing trend of funding new programs by
implementing fee increases. Don't dare upset citizens by raising taxes or by cutting other programs…
just create a new fee or increase an existing one beyond what is needed.

These fees are everywhere. Cell and home phone bills, increases in various court filing fees, fees
added to traffic tickets, and the list goes on.

What government officials never seem to understand is that every time a new fee is created, a new
bureaucracy is required to collect and distribute the proceeds. Plus, in many cases there is an
increased cost to companies that have to calculate or collect the fees as part of their business.

So here's my suggestion for two great pieces of legislation that will never see the light of day. I'll call
the first one the "Fee Accountability Act" or "FACT" for short. Simply put, the bill would prohibit
government from raising any imposed fee beyond the cost of supplying the service for which the fee is
charged.

The second bill would be named the Fee Implementation Act. Sorry I couldn't come up with a cute
acronym for this one. This legislation would mandate that any and all government fees and taxes
would have to be approved by elected officials. If you aren't required to stand for election, you cannot
implement, raise, or change any type of fee.

Politicians would never go for either of these proposals. Their hides would be exposed and they don't
want to be put in the hot seat every time a fee is increased.

So, when you get your cell phone bill in a few weeks and notice it has increased a few cents, just
remember that regardless of what they call this fee… it's still a tax. Then use that cell phone to call
your congressman and complain.