United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao_comptroller_general legislative 2016-06-24 U.S. Government Publishing Office 1999-01-04 monographic deposited born digital 4 p. GA 1.13:B-279796 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-B-279796 P0b002ee18fd4d7ef f:279796 DGPO 2016-06-24 2016-06-24 GAOREPORTS-B-279796 machine generated eng fdlp COMPTROLLERDECISION GAOREPORTS-B-279796 B-279796 Comptroller General Decision 1. Telecommunications vendors charge the Army a Universal Service Fee to recover the vendors' universal service contributions, required of telecommunications carriers by federal law. Because the universal service contributions arise as a result of federal, not state, law, the federal government's constitutional immunity from state and local taxation does not arise, and would not prohibit payment of the fee.<p/>2. A pending legal challenge to the requirement of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that telecommunications carriers make universal service contributions does not compel a conclusion that the Army may not pay Universal Service Fees assessed by carriers to recover, as a cost of doing business, the amounts of their contributions. Presently, no court has held the fees to be illegal, and the United States is vigorously defending the legality of the requirement. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-B-279796/html/GAOREPORTS-B-279796.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-B-279796/pdf/GAOREPORTS-B-279796.pdf GAO/B-279796 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-B-279796 Comptroller General Decision GAO/B-279796; Universal Service Fee Surcharge, B-279796, January 4, 1999; Volume 110 Page 56 110 Stat. 56 Public Law 104-104