A real boondoggle for the phone companies.

This probably called a fee, not a tax, but it is, and it is soaring.

"The U.S. government spent about $2.2 billion last year to provide phones to low-income Americans, but a Wall Street Journal review of the program shows that a large number of those who received the phones haven’t proved they are eligible to receive them.

The Lifeline program—begun in 1984 [under Reagan] to ensure that poor people aren’t cut off from jobs, families and emergency services—is funded by charges that appear on the monthly bills of every landline and wireless-phone customer. Payouts under the program have shot up from $819 million in 2008, as more wireless carriers have persuaded regulators to let them offer the service."

http://www.bizpacreview.com/2013/02/12/obama-phone-scam-cost-taxpayers-big-bucks-last-year-19952