I decided to take a closer look at my phone bill today. The total of the bill was $57.82. Of that, $40.74 was for the actual telephone service; the remaining $17.08 was taxes, stipends, and other government fees. You could surmise that about 29.5% of the cost of my telephone service went to the government in the form of taxes.
Of course, if you did that, you’d be wrong. It’s actually much worse (for you, not for the government).
The $57.82 I use to pay my phone bill is money that I earned and paid taxes on. As a resident of New York City (by many calculations the most-taxed place in the country), I take home about 75 cents for every dollar earned. To take home the $57.82 to pay my phone bill, I have to earn $77.09.
The real cost of my phone bill is $77.09, of which $36.35 was paid in taxes. In other words, 47% of my earnings that go towards paying my phone bill get redirected to the government.
When I get my cell phone bill, I’ll do a similar analysis. I’m not looking forward to it — it might be quite depressing.
Louis says:
Whatever it is… its too much! I’m always amazed how the taxes always change and there is no logical reason for it. I always use the term “nickle & dime’ing me” when I call the CS rep. Imagine how much they make if 1 million poeple pay an extra 5cents.
I’ve even had one state on the phone they dont know what a certain is, but they charge it. I was told by this rep someone will call me to explain this mystery tax within 48 hours, after I demanded to know. Its been 3 months and I’m still wating.
brian says:
Call the FCC and report them if they can’t explain a charge on your bill yet do not take it off before the end of your billing cycle. If someone can not EXPLAIN a charge to you, they should not charge you until they can explain it!