About That Universal Service “Tax”

            Universal service opponents like to claim in real courts, and the court of public opinion, that the surcharge imposed by carriers represents an unlawful tax.

             Consumers’ Research, the advocacy group seeking to have universal service funding deemed unconstitutional, wants several courts to endorse its view that the “revenues raised for the Universal Service Fund pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 254 are taxes and therefore Congress’s standardless delegation to the FCC of authority to raise and spend nearly unlimited taxes violates Article I, section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.” https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca5.215996/gov.uscourts.ca5.215996.1.1.pdf?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com at p. 4.

             When asked whether universal service funding constitutes a tax, former FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth stated:  “I think the way it’s structured now it’s unambiguously a tax. It’s -- the people who pay in — and the statute’s very clear.” https://fedsoc.org/events/consumers-research-v-fcc-and-the-legality-of-the-universal-service-fund-contribution-regime.

             Several advocacy groups preach the gospel that Congress has no legal authority to create a universal service funding mechanism and in turn the FCC has no basis to establish policies and rules, nor can it delegate administrative responsibilities to the Universal Service Administrative Co.

             If, somehow, they never learned the distinction between a tax and a legislatively mandated charge, that carriers pass through in its entirety to subscribers, consider what a wireless reseller discloses in its terms of service:

             Surcharges

When imposed, unless prohibited by applicable law or agreement, you agree to pay all surcharges (“Surcharges”), which may include, but are not limited to: Federal Universal Service; various regulatory charges; Kroger Wireless administrative charges; gross receipts charges and certain other taxes imposed upon Kroger Wireless; or charges for the costs that we incur and pass along to you. Surcharges are not taxes, and we are not required to assess them by law. They are charges we choose to collect from you, are part of our rates, and are kept by us in whole or in part. The number and type of Surcharges will be provided and may vary depending upon the location of the transaction or the primary account address of the payment method or Device and can change over time. We determine the rate for these charges, and these amounts are subject to change as are the components used to calculate these amounts. https://www.krogerwireless.com/support/terms-and-conditions

             When creating contracts and tariffs, wireless service providers must play it straight.  Elsewhere it’s caveat emptor.

 

AT&T Wireless Risks Having to Pay $100 Million in Tuition on Contract Law

          The FCC has issued a Notice of Apparent Liability to AT&T Wireless with a $100 million “forfeiture” for throttling service to subscribers still having “unlimited” service plans.  See http://www.wsj.com/articles/fcc-to-fine-at-t-100-million-for-capping-unlimited-data-plans-1434557988; https://www.fcc.gov/document/att-mobility-faces-100m-fine-misleading-consumers-0.

           The FCC applies the transparency requirements contained in its 2010 and 2015 Open Internet Orders that passed muster with appellate court review. 

            Ironically, AT&T could have avoided the fine if it strategically blended service contracts with FCC filed tariffs.  Historically, tariff filing requirements have been vilified as harmful to competition, innovation and carrier flexibility.  The FCC has mandated detariffing of many services including wireline and wireless long distance services on the assumption that carriers will self-regulate in a competitive market.

           Apparently even in competitive markets, carriers can risk a bait and switch gambit.

           If only AT&T had a tariff filing option.  It could have inserted language deep in the boilerplate of a tariff to accord it near total flexibility to throttle whenever it wanted.

           The campaign of AT&T and other incumbent carriers to eliminate tariffing has an impact AT&T apparently has failed to evaluate fully. By seeking to replace tariffs with contracts, AT&T now has to comply with issues such as fair notice, proper definition of words like unlimited and congestion, consumer protection and unfair trade practices.  A very old legal precedent, known as the Filed Rate Doctrine, allows common carriers to insert language in tariffs that subvert, conflict with and change the terms and conditions of a negotiated contract.  In effect AT&T could have baited and switched if it could still file a tariff. 

            The tariff would have trumped anything offered orally, or by written agreement. Even today, under certain circumstances, incumbent carriers still like what tariffs offer.  For example, Verizon still has a web page that seems to like tariffing.  The company states that: “Tariffs have historically served as the basis for creating binding rights and obligations between carriers and their customers for telecom services.” See http://www.verizonenterprise.com/us/publications/service_guide/detariffing_f_a_q/.

           But of course who wants a fair balance of rights and obligations between carriers and consumers?  With binding arbitration clauses and major limits of the certification of class action law suits, carriers increasingly can behave poorly, dare I say cheat customers, without penalty.  Occasionally the FCC and FTC step in, and the offending carrier pays a minor fine.

           Possibly a $100 million dollar fine will motivate AT&T to appeal the FCC’s order.  If so AT&T, as the author of a “take it or leave it” contract of adhesion, will bear the burden of proving that unlimited does not mean what people commonly assume the word to mean.