TAX NEWS - 2010

Tax Q&A: Verizon allowed to pass along tax on telephone poles

Q: I have a Verizon phone, TV, and Internet package and noticed starting with my March bill that there was a new $1.26 charge for "voice additional services." I have a contract and have not made any changes.

In the March bill "questions and answers" section, there was a note about the Massachusetts Property Tax Recovery Surcharge. It read: "These fees are intended to help defray the cost of a new local property tax that Massachusetts cities and towns now levy on Verizon's telephone poles and wires located on public property. State law permits, but does not require, Verizon to pass along this new local tax. For consumers with packages, a surcharge of $1.26 will be applied per line."

It seems unfair if only consumers with packages are charged the fee.

-- Lynda Costello Dedham


A: No worries about being discriminated against. A Verizon spokesman said just about every customer gets to share in this added charge.

"The surcharge applies to all Verizon customers, except those who have basic local exchange service," said spokesman Phil Santoro.

Basic local exchange customers, those with the lowest level of service, were exempted by the state Department of Telecommunications and Cable, he said. Everyone else pays the charge.

This line item on bills — it's a Beacon Hill-conceived way to collect more money for the state — started off as a tax on telephone poles. But companies aren't going to sacrifice their bottom lines so the cost gets passed along to consumers.


More on census takers

Last week's warning about the potential for people to run scams by posing as census takers drew more than a few comments from census takers concerned that already reluctant people would be even less likely to talk to them.

They pointed out that there are circumstances by which they might come to your house unannounced and that even after the decennial census ends, census workers still collect data.

If enumerators show up at your door, it's still your job to make sure they are who they say they are. Be sure to look at their identification and verify that they are supposed to be there by calling the local census office they are assigned to.