False phone bill taxes

Ever wondered about all those taxes on your phone bill that you’ve never heard of? Turns out they are not taxes at all.

"Property tax allotment" charge, for instance, is nothing more than the property taxes that the carrier pays. The "carrier cost recovery fee" is a catch-all for many kinds of operating expenses; the "single bill fee" charges subscribers who want a single bill for wireless and landline phone service.

A Monthly Mystery – New York Times