Taxes on Cell Phone Bills

Awhile back, my wife noticed that we are paying about $5 a month in city taxes on our cell phone bill… But we don't live in a city. I finally got around to calling our cell phone service provider today about getting them removed, and perhaps even getting a credit for overpayment. I was told that was impossible. The cell phone company has no control over what taxes appear on their bills. Seriously. That is what I was told. As far as the clerk and her manager knew, unknown government offices send the tax information to the cell phone companies to add to your bill. I assume that she meant the tax RATE and the tax BASIS was specified, but that is a nit. She assured me that the cell phone company is not responsible for the taxes that appear on our bill and that the cell phone company cannot change them, and they certainly cannot give me a credit for overpayment of those taxes. So, at least in our case, I conclude that some monstrous data file supplied by the government to the cell phone company has an error in it. No surprise there, right?

But wait, I haven't gotten to the worst part. I asked her who I could call to get that database corrected.

Wait for it.

Wait!

Their only suggestion was to call my Congressman.

Wow. I'm flabbergasted.