The Supreme Court's FCC Tax Dodge
Can Congress empower administrative agencies to raise taxes without concrete constraints? Six Justices ruled they can on Friday (FCC v. Consumers' Research) in the Supreme Court's most disappointing decision this term.
At issue is a Federal Communications Commission program that Congress established in 1996 to subsidize 'universal service.' The law gives the FCC broad authority to levy taxes on telecom providers and their users to finance universal service, however the agency defines the term. The FCC, in turn, has delegated authority to implement the tax to a nonprofit.
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