OMG there is a "Obamaphone"

The video — using a clip from a news show — briefly acknowledges that the subsidized cell phones are funded by “a hidden fee that’s on your cell phone bill.” But the rest of the video portrays the fee as a government tax. Griffin suggests the program is an example of wasteful federal spending when he says: “If we can’t cut this, then we’re in big, big trouble when it comes to cutting other wasteful spending because this is easy.”
We tackled a similar claim in 2009 regarding the so-called “Obama phone.” As we explained then, the FCC requires phone companies to fund “universal service” programs such as Lifeline that improve telecommunications access to all Americans. The companies pass the cost along to consumers in the form of a universal service fee, which is listed on a monthly phone bill.
The fees go into the Universal Service Fund, which is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company, an independent, not-for-profit corporation. USAC manages Lifeline and three other programs that provide telecommunications services to rural areas, schools, libraries and places where it’s more expensive to provide access.

ChesusRice said:

Obviously you dont
Doesnt matter what your cell phone or landline bill is
you agreed to pay a set amount on your bill when you signed up with the company that provides your service
Correct me if I am wrong
a tax is something mandated by the goverment that is based on a percentage of value of a asset or transaction
@
The goverment does not compell you to pay one cent
You agreed to pay a fee to the company in your contract

Click to expand...

Cigarette, alcohol, sales. Just three non "mandatory" taxes

Edit: I love it when libs think that a private company that owes its existence to government "universal" social programs is okay simply because it is privately owned. And y'all say we have had a free market... lol

ChesusRice said:

Obviously you dont
Doesnt matter what your cell phone or landline bill is
you agreed to pay a set amount on your bill when you signed up with the company that provides your service
Correct me if I am wrong
a tax is something mandated by the goverment that is based on a percentage of value of a asset or transaction

The goverment does not compell you to pay one cent
You agreed to pay a fee to the company in your contract

Click to expand...

Same as you're not compelled to pay income taxes, just you agree to them by taking up employment?

What a retarded argument.

the "universal lifeline surcharge" is a use tax.

if you have phone service, the government requires the phone service provider to collect the fee.

if you go to a store and buy laundry soap, the government requires the store to collect sales taxes.

they are the same type of tax, an excise.

excises are taxes paid to a third party for remittance to the government. if you do not participate in the taxed transactio0ns, you do not pay the tax, which is why they are called "avoidable" taxes.

the same feature of "avoidability" is found in stamp taxes. if you do not purchase products taxed by the stamp but instead make these items yourself you do not pay the tax, however if you begin producing these items for commerce you will be required to pay the stamp tax, and then collect from your customers. the stamp is proof that tax was paid.

they are not less taxey because they are charged on services or for the stamp, they are simply a different kind of tax from property taxes, income taxes, apportioned taxes and other unavoidable taxes.

Dr Kynes said:

the "universal lifeline surcharge" is a use tax.

if you have phone service, the government requires the phone service provider to collect the fee.

if you go to a store and buy laundry soap, the government requires the store to collect sales taxes.

they are the same type of tax, an excise.

excises are taxes paid to a third party for remittance to the government. if you do not participate in the taxed transactio0ns, you do not pay the tax, which is why they are called "avoidable" taxes.

the same feature of "avoidability" is found in stamp taxes. if you do not purchase products taxed by the stamp but instead make these items yourself you do not pay the tax, however if you begin producing these items for commerce you will be required to pay the stamp tax, and then collect from your customers. the stamp is proof that tax was paid.

they are not less taxey because they are charged on services or for the stamp, they are simply a different kind of tax from property taxes, income taxes, apportioned taxes and other unavoidable taxes.

Click to expand...

First they tell you that the service is essential to living. Then they tell you the tax that supports the program is avoidable. Lol.

sync0s said:

First they tell you that the service is essential to living. Then they tell you the tax that supports the program is avoidable. Lol.

Click to expand...

youre missing the point.

the income tax caused "avoidability" to become an issue in the constitutionality of taxation, because before the income tax, if you wanted to live as a subsistence farmer (like the amish for example) you COULD. the long and inescapable reach of the income tax became a direct burden on those who were previously able to live beyond the reach of government taxation by virtue of their lack of commercial enterprises.

taxation of commerce is well understood, but since the income tax is levied on "income, from whatever source derived", a guy who grows his own corn and raises chickens etc all without ever going to a store and buying shit is still vulnerable to the tax, as his crops could be considered "income", as could his chickens, their eggs, and even the water he pumps from his own well with his own hands.

originally the income tax was intended to be a tax on monetary transactions, but when it stretched out it's greedy fingers into barter, gifts, crops in the feild, and the reproduction habits of livestock, people started filing suits against the tax man.

sweating in a steelmill for subsistence wages now equals income, so it's tax time.

at various times in the past the tax man has reached even further.

rainfall and sunshine on your cornfeild now gives you "income" in corn, even if you never sell a single kernel. sorry bro, it's tax time.
income now equals sweat. if you work the handle of your well's pump, you just made a profit in water, and it's tax time.
inhaling oxygen, and exhaling carbon dioxide now gives you the "profit" of continued life, so it's tax time.

the "avoidability" issue stopped the taxing or everything not literally required for life unless it is done commercially, but even then every now and again, the tax man reaches out for a taste of forbidden fruit, and the "avoidability" issue comes up.

if you really wanted to, you could live quite easily without a telephone, so this tax is considered "avoidable", you cannot live without the ground you stand on, so property taxes are "unavoidable" and thus not subject to the "income" definition, and therefore cannot be taxed by the congress. they get around that with estate taxes, but the actual purchase of property is not taxed by congress, only the receipt as value from the estate of your now deceased benefactor.

ChesusRice said:

http://www.factcheck.org/2012/05/congressmans-slippery-cell-phone-claim/

Click to expand...

a tax in a silly hat is still a tax.

calling it a "fee" doesnt change the fact that it is mandated by congress, carries the force of law, and requires payment to a government agency. the cunard that the fee is transferred to a government mandated "charity" does not lift the stain of taxation from the issue, it just makes plain that the congress doesnt like calling their taxes waht they are. taxes.

if the congress renames the income tax, the "Totally Not a Tax, Completely Voluntary Income Assessment Fee" and requires that all people with jobs pay into the "Internal Revenue Fund for Completely Voluntary Mandated Charitable Contributions and Thinking of the Children for Hope and Change Corporation for Public Good and the General Welfare" it will be no less a tax for it's new and unwieldy name.

but that would be awesome.

Dr Kynes said:

the obamaphone flap is NOT about the lifeline phone program which has been around for a long time, its the insanity of rabid obamaa enthusiasts with no interest in any part of the political process that does not involve them getting "free shit" and obama good/everyone else bad.

the ignorance, gleeful stupidity and outright shamelessness of that broad and her joy to receive public assistance as her right for being a "low minority" is what made the video so galling to those of us who pay the bills for her food stamps, welfare, disability, sosh security, and yes, even the pittance of the obamaphone.

being on public assistance should be something one wishes to avoid, not a joyous cause for celebration.

Click to expand...

any chance to smear a minority, there's kynes!

as reliable as my morning deuce, and and every bit as tasteful.

Dr Kynes said:

...being a "low minority" is what made the video so galling to those of us who pay the bills for her...

Click to expand...

Dr Kynes said:

see you want it to be about race but it aint.

Click to expand...

lol, dumbass.

FreedomWorks said:

He gonna do more.

Click to expand...

Dr Kynes said:

obama gonna get you more

Click to expand...

yeah, now i can clearly see how much this is totally not about race.

UncleBuck said:

lol, dumbass.

Click to expand...

excellent use of the careful copy and paste to turn me into david duke.

i celebrate your technique, my fellow member of the Chosen People!

but remember, shes the one who said "everybody in cleveland who's low minority got obamaphone" and this stunning jewel of intellect: "keep obama in president you know! he got us a phone, he gonna do more!"

she made the issue one of race, class and how obama will compensate them for their support, not me.

if she were a dimwitted slackjawed hillbilly shouting "Obama aint white! he's misceginated!", you would be right there shouting for her public stoning (with rocks, not weed), likewise if she were some semiretarded quiverfull baby factory with irish twins on her tits and another one on the way screaming "Romney will come to washington on his white horse and usher in the rapture for all us good christians" you would be unable to contain your hyper-rage. and rightly so.

this cow screaming with delight over all the "free shit" she gets by her own words for being "low minority" by the grace of obama's largesse is equally infuriating to me as one of the assholes who winds up paying for "obama's stash" and the free gifts he provides from it.

i dont care what colour somebody is, when they get government assistance and display such oblivious glee at the "free shit" that costs me so much, i get pissed. when they declare it's because obama is preparing their reparations package because they are "low minority" (yes that clever turn of phrase delights me with it's stupidity) it flips my wig.

UncleBuck said:

yeah, now i can clearly see how much this is totally not about race.

Click to expand...

Of course it is. Everyone who disagrees with anything about the administration or topics related to are obviously racist. Why, us white folks never disagreed with any other white politician, ever. Just the off white ones.

Dr Kynes said:

she made the issue one of race, class and how obama will compensate them for their support, not me.

Click to expand...

false.

she said something, and is of a certain race.

you played off of that, you made it about race.

keep trying to play the victim, kynes.

you poor, persecuted white male.

brotherjericho said:

Of course it is. Everyone who disagrees with anything about the administration or topics related to are obviously racist. Why, us white folks never disagreed with any other white politician, ever. Just the off white ones.

Click to expand...

that's not what i said, that's your incredibly lame and weak strawman, sistah jericho.

UncleBuck said:

that's not what i said, that's your incredibly lame and weak strawman, sistah jericho.

Click to expand...

Who cares what you said. It always about race with you guys anyway, so you are just recycling shit.

Dr Kynes said:

see you want it to be about race but it aint.

Click to expand...

Dr Kynes said:

she made the issue one of race...not me.

Click to expand...

wait, i thought you said it is NOT about race?

then you said she made it about race.

but that was before you said it's not about race.

talk in circles much, kynes?

you're another fine example of the old truism: if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.

it's not about race, it is about race, she made it about race, i never made it about race...dizzying.

what else does the bircher who is opposed to multiculturalism want to say here? i'm all ears.

brotherjericho said:

Who cares what you said.

Click to expand...

obviously you did, or otherwise you would not have bothered replying.

contradict yourself much, sistah?

UncleBuck said:

yeah, now i can clearly see how much this is totally not about race.

Click to expand...

i didnt make the bitch sound stupid, she did that herself.

if she were a boston brahmin in a tophat and tails uttering those same phrases through clenched teeth with flawless recieved pronunciation she would be no less retarded.

but infinitely classier.



I say, Archibald, we must endeavor to ensure President Taft's re-election!
He has provided us with the means to pursue a life of gentlemanly leisure.
I submit that he may outstrip his previous efforts on our behalf in the upcoming!

Pip Pip Old Boy, I concur! What say you, Reginald?

Indubitably my good man! Indubitably!
To Industry!!

UncleBuck said:

wait, i thought you said it is NOT about race?

then you said she made it about race.

but that was before you said it's not about race.

talk in circles much, kynes?

you're another fine example of the old truism: if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.

it's not about race, it is about race, she made it about race, i never made it about race...dizzying.

what else does the bircher who is opposed to multiculturalism want to say here? i'm all ears.

Click to expand...

the issue is not about race, the opposition to her obvious delight that others pay for the "free shit" she gets is not about race either.

she may view it as her due, for being a minority, but thats HER problem, not mine. i still dont give a shit what colour she is.

race is obviously the biggest determining factor in disbursement of social services in her mind.

bitch got problems.