Seniors rally against flat USF charges

Hoping to derail FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s proposal for a per-line charge to fund universal service, The Seniors Coalition (TSC) today released the results of a survey showing half of all older Americans would have to cut back on long-distance calls if their monthly bill was raised by $1 to $2 every month.

The survey of 860 seniors, conducted by Opinion Research Corp., also showed that two out of three think it would be unfair to switch the USF tax from the current method, which is based on the amount of the bill, to a per-line charge. Most are opposed largely because they tend to make fewer long-distance calls and feel the funding change would disproportionately impact them, said Graham Hueber, senior research associate with Opinion Research.

Flora "Grandma" Green, spokesperson for TSC, said she has met with Chairman Martin about the change and its impact on seniors, but has yet to get him to move off his position.

“This is a stealth tax increase of the worst kind,” Green said today during a press conference to unveil the survey.

Perhaps most surprising about the results of the survey was that only 9 percent of seniors in rural areas would support using USF to pay for rural broadband if seniors and low-income individuals had to pay more into the fund. The survey, however, did not ask whether those same seniors would be more apt to sign up for broadband service if it were subsidized with USF.

“I think we’re going to see more and more seniors going online,” Green said. “People in my generation are just starting to learn the wonders of it.”