My first Vonage bill: Premium Unlimited Plan (16/Mar-15/Apr) $24.99 Emergency 911 Cost Recovery $0.99 Regulatory Recovery Fee $0.99 FET Tax $0.75 Total Amount $27.72
Good times, what I'd expect from that plan. Fast forward to last month:
Premium Unlimited Plan (16/Oct-15/Nov) $24.99 Regulatory Recovery Fee $0.99 Emergency 911 Cost Recovery $0.99 Sales Tax $2.31 Federal Universal Service Surcharge $1.43 State Excise Tax $0.70 County MCTD Surcharge Sec. 186 $0.17 County Transit Tax $0.11 State Franchise Surcharge Sec. 184 $0.10 County MCTD Surcharge Sec. 184 $0.04 Total Amount $31.83
The amount of new taxes in a 6 month time frame is astonishing, especially given the election year that it is. But this new Federal Universal Tax is crazy on top of the sales tax. I wonder how long it'll take for my bill's taxes to reach 50% of the bill. It's over half way there as it is.
My first Vonage bill: Premium Unlimited Plan (16/Mar-15/Apr) $24.99 Emergency 911 Cost Recovery $0.99 Regulatory Recovery Fee $0.99 FET Tax $0.75 Total Amount $27.72
Good times, what I'd expect from that plan. Fast forward to last month:
Premium Unlimited Plan (16/Oct-15/Nov) $24.99 Regulatory Recovery Fee $0.99 Emergency 911 Cost Recovery $0.99 Sales Tax $2.31 Federal Universal Service Surcharge $1.43 State Excise Tax $0.70 County MCTD Surcharge Sec. 186 $0.17 County Transit Tax $0.11 State Franchise Surcharge Sec. 184 $0.10 County MCTD Surcharge Sec. 184 $0.04 Total Amount $31.83
The amount of new taxes in a 6 month time frame is astonishing, especially given the election year that it is. But this new Federal Universal Tax is crazy on top of the sales tax. I wonder how long it'll take for my bill's taxes to reach 50% of the bill. It's over half way there as it is.
I've highlighted in red your additional taxes. This is ridiculous!
Dispite the new taxes and fees Vonage is still a bargain over the traditional carrieres. I'm still paying less than half what I was before and getting additional features I didn't have so it's certainly not going to push me back to AT&T/SBC.
My point in saying they are not obligated in passing on those fees to the consumer, is that in most businesses, governmental regulatory fees are usually a "cost of doing business" that you account for when you set your price. Very few companies used to break out recovery of those fees on their bills. The only exceptions that come to mind are telecom,. cable tv and trucking.
I don't think anyone is really blaming Vonage per se; instead, we're blaming the damn levels of government that decide to impose every tax known to man on communications bills. I challenge anyone to find something that has more taxes applied to it than home and cellular phone bills. To have 5, 6, or more line items of different taxes is just insane!
That's just my point. In my old business I just to have tons of government fees I had to pay. Hazardous waste disposal permits, loading zone fee, water and sewer fees, business registrations, truck licenses... the list is endless. Those were all things that are taken into account when I set a price. I didn't list them on each invoice as a line item. Telecom companies break them out on the invoice to make their advertised prices appear low.
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