Consumers’ Research: FCC Should Zero Out USF Contribution Factor
Consumers’ Research and other conservative interests last week urged the FCC to zero out the USF contribution factor. Next year, the U.S. Supreme Court is slated to hear a case that Consumers’ Research brought in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court…
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of Appeals (see 2412100060), which found in a 9-7 en banc decision that the contribution factor is a "misbegotten tax.” Posted Friday in docket 96-45, the filing arrived the day after the FCC Office of Managing Director proposed a contribution factor of 36.3% for Q1 2025 (see 2412120061). The contribution factor “is an unconstitutional tax raised and spent by an unaccountable federal agency -- which in turn has delegated almost all authority over this revenue-raising scheme to a private company registered in Delaware,” the Universal Service Administrative Co. The cost “is ultimately borne by consumers via a separate line item on nearly every phone bill in the country,” the filing said. In its decision, the 5th Circuit found the USAC “sets the USF Tax -- subject only to FCC’s rubber stamp” and the agency lacks "a documented process for checking USAC’s work,” the filing said. Among those endorsing the pleading was Edward Blum, president of Students for Fair Admissions, which last year won a SCOTUS case that effectively ended race-based affirmative action policies in American college admissions, and other respondents listed on Consumers’ Research’s initial SCOTUS brief.