Governments Steal Money
May 5 | Posted by mrossol | American Thought, Big Govt, Democrat Party, The LeftYou are not surprised, are you?
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WSJ 5/3/2018
Progressives might get more Americans to trust them with health care or education if Democratic state politicians could do the government basics of enforcing public safety and picking up the garbage. Witness how states are diverting fees that fund 911 emergency services into other priorities.
Commissioner Michael O’Rielly of the Federal Communications Commission has been sounding an alarm about 911 fees collected by states and towns. These charges are small, maybe a buck, on monthly phone bills. Yet some states are using the money for purposes other than safety, according to an annual FCC report.
You can guess the usual suspects. New Jersey diverted more than $108 million of $122 million collected in 2016, or 89%. Rhode Island stuffed more than $8 million of $14 million into the state’s general fund. Illinois apparently had a burst of lapsed ambition and shuffled around only $2.5 million. Right-leaning West Virginia has also diverted funds.
The FCC says New York “has not filed a response to this year’s data collection,” but the Empire State has been a diverter every year since the first FCC report in 2009. The state imposes a $1.20 monthly fee on mobile devices, which
is higher than most, the report notes. Yet New York law allows about 40% to be thrown into the general fund. Mr. O’Rielly has noted that based on state tax records New York collected more than $185 million in 2016. But only $10 million went to the 911 call centers known as public service answering points.
What happens to these dollars varies and can include “non-public safety or unspecified uses,” the FCC says. One certainty: People think they’re paying for 911 services, not more income redistribution for the political class. A telecom executive who allowed such pilfering would be in jail.
The FCC’s report exists mainly to shame states, though New Jersey and New York politicians seem impervious to embarrassment. By federal law these delinquents aren’t allowed to receive some grants for, say, technology updates, but that stick is unlikely to change behavior. Perhaps the feds can do more on enforcement. But a better outcome would be for an enterprising state legislator to make fixing the problem a campaign issue and dare incumbents to defend the practice.
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