Dollars for Dialing

Guess how much would it cost a farmer to get telephone service in a small rural county far from a major city?  Let’s say $800 for satellite service.

Now guess how much the government subsidizes rural phone carriers to provide this service.  The answer?  As much as $13,000 per line per year.

That litte gem is from an excellent report by my new colleague, Tom Hazlett, on where all the money from those little telephone taxes ends up going.