Timothy Kline: Thoughts and Reflections

When Benjamin Franklin wrote the words, “‘In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes” I seriously doubt he would have known that in time we’d have to tack on “fees” to his infamous phrase. But there’s no question that “fees” are the new taxation system of our time.

Taxes are something that our government imposes on us, usually backed by some obtuse law and the assurance that the imposition will result in some sort of benefit for us—well, at least some of us. But taxes are the sole jurisdiction of government. At least that’s how I understand it.

And that’s what makes all of these fees so maddening. Clearly, they are really a tax. They just can’t call them taxes because they aren’t imposed by governmental bodies. One of the most laughable yet stupefying “fees” that these fee-collectors enjoy inflicting on us is the fee to pay the bill that they send us. They aren’t content to collect the money that we owe—no, they insist on charging us to pay it. Most places call it a convenience fee—and they’re absolutely right about that: it’s a pure convenience that they get to charge us that extra bit of money every time we go to pay their bill.

One such case is my electricity and natural gas provider here in Michigan. Originally, they charged $5.25 if I paid my bill. Now, they charge $6.25 every time I do. Now, from what I have been able to find out through online resources, they have around 1.8 million consumers. That means that they have the potential to earn over $11 million in additional revenues—just from people paying their bill. That’s every month. Result: an extra $135 million every year.

Now, I say that they have the potential to earn that—which would certainly explain why they are pushing so hard for everyone to pay the same way! But, at this point, everyone isn’t on the same pay method. So, for the sake of argument, let’s say that 1 in 4 pay like I do. That still amounts to nearly $34 million annually, doesn’t it? That’s above and beyond the profit they are earning from their rates.

But it doesn’t start there. Examining my bill, I see a mind-boggling array of other “fees,” such as “Delivery Surcharge,” “Securitization Charge,” “Securitization Tax Charge,” “Elect Interim Surcharge,” “Energy Optimization Charge,” and, of course, “System Access Charge.” And that isn’t even all of them!

Did I mention that’s just ONE monthly bill.

Check your telephone bill, your cell phone bill, your cable/satellite bill—you’re going to see a lot of “fees” that are above and beyond the charges you owe for the service you are subscribed to. And to add insult to injury, even my own mortgage company charges me $9.95 to pay my mortgage payment every month!

Everywhere you turn, we are being hit by fees, surcharges, and charges in order to compel us to pay monies above and beyond what we owe. But since they don’t call them taxes, they are legally able to continue the practice unchecked.

Just try to argue with them about your obligation to pay one of them, and see what happens. A good example is the monthly fee that most telephone companies charge you in order to “protect” your phone number so that if you move, your phone number can go with you. Most bills list it as a “portability” fee. Call your phone company and tell them that you do NOT want that service and that you want it removed and you’ll see how it feels to bang your head against a brick wall. And what’s even more inane is that they won’t port your number to whereever you move if it’s to anywhere except within your current town/city. Nor will they refund your monies you paid in for portability service when they can’t fulfill their end of it—even after collecting the money from you month after month, year after year. At that point, it’s free money to them.

And I didn’t even touch on the fees imposed by our banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions just so we can keep our money in an account!

No taxation without representation. That’s what Benjamin Franklin would have said. And the same should be true of all these pseudo-taxes: No fees without representation.