Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 11, 1994 TAG: 9401200305
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Rick Lindquist
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``The check's in the system.'' That's my motto.
The downside? Like the computer, I've become an uncritical automaton in terms of knowing what I'm actually paying for.
On some level, I guess, I knew that those little extra charges turned up on my telephone bill each month, but it just never occurred to me to question them. Besides, the small print and numerous pages make the phone bill a great hiding place.
Most folks seems as blithely oblivious to these charges and taxes as I've been, even though they can constitute a hefty chunk of the total.
Check out the $3.50 ``Federal Subscriber Line Charge.'' That's 14 percent of a $25 bill. Uncle Sam's got his hands in our pockets again, right?
Wrong! Despite the word ``federal,`` this is actually a phone company charge C&P collects to make up for the long-distance revenues Ma Bell used to share with her offspring, according to Bonnie Donivan at C&P's customer service center in Richmond .
Since the Bell System breakup a decade ago, the federal government has allowed the former Baby Bells to collect the charge, which covers access to the long-distance networks. You pay even if you never call out-of-town.
C&P was less clear about how the charge is set. ``I think Washington and the SCC have something to say about it,'' Donivan told me.
The phone company also is part-time tax person for your federal and local governments. (For some strange reason, the state has not tapped this revenue source.)
Here's the deal: The federal government gets 3 percent of your C&P bill (not your total bill), while your locality takes an even bigger bite. For example: Roanoke collects 12 percent of your local service charge, while Roanoke County gets 12 percent of the first $15 on residential accounts as a consumer utility tax.
By the way, the local consumer utility tax turns up on your electric, cable television and gas bills, too.
But wait! There's more: C&P customers pay a relatively tiny 10-cent per line Virginia Relay Center Surcharge. That's the system in Norton, Va., that provides text telephone service statewide for those unable to hear.
You also support your locality's 911 emergency response service via your phone bill. In Pulaski County, where I live, it's 42 cents per line each month. Blacksburg recently raised its E-911 fee fo 94 cents a month (up from 23 cents) for complex reasons we've already reported.
All told, a typical $25 residential C&P bill will incur $7.35 in taxes and long-distance access charges, over 20 percent of the total. That's not counting the 911 charge, which varies. Taxes alone add around 15 percent to your bill, or $45 a year.
As a local government reporter, I've seen galleries packed with citizenry hot about taxes and fees amounting to far less than the ones showing up, albeit less prominently, on their utility bills each month.
It's curious how those so quick to holler at even the hint of a run on their wallets sustain these less-conspicuous taxes month after month without a whimper.
My bill- and tax-paying computer hasn't learned to grumble and ask questions yet, but I'm working on it.
Memo: NOTE: Also ran in Jan. 27 and Feb. 17, 1994 Neighbors.