NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit ruled, en banc, in favor of a conservative nonprofit that challenged the Universal Service Fund, a program funded by fees and surcharges that spends billions to subsidize high-cost areas, schools, libraries, low-income households and rural service zones. Because the FCC, in the court’s estimation, allows a private corporate group to determine the costs, which appear on cell phone and other telecom bills, it effectively constitutes a tax voters did not approve and therefore violates Article I of the Constitution.
Read the ruling here.
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