Muth's Citizen Outreach joins a national coalition fighting a plan that could raise your internet bill.
Picture this. You open your phone bill and see a new line item eating into your budget. That is exactly what a coalition of conservative and free market groups, including Nevada's own Citizen Outreach, is warning could happen if Congress moves forward with a plan to tax broadband internet service.
On August 18, 2026, dozens of organizations sent a letter to every member of Congress urging them to reject new taxes on broadband.
Our own Chuck Muth, president of Citizen Outreach, signed the letter alongside some of the biggest names in the limited government movement.
Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform put his name on it. So did leaders from the Rio Grande Foundation, the Pelican Institute, and the National Taxpayers Union.
What Is This Fight Really About.
The issue centers on something called the Universal Service Fund, or USF. Congress created it back in 1996 to help pay for phone and internet service in rural communities that private companies might otherwise skip over.
For nearly three decades, the fund has run on fees charged to wireless and wireline phone providers.
Here is the problem. Fewer people use traditional phone service these days. Everybody has switched to alternative wireless plans that fall outside the USF fee system.
That means the pool of money paying into the fund keeps shrinking, even as the fund keeps growing more expensive.
According to the coalition letter Citizen Outreach signed, the result has been painful for the customers still stuck paying into the system.
Nearly 40% of these customers' phone bills are now USF fees. That is not a typo. Four out of every ten dollars on some phone bills goes straight to this fund.
Why Conservatives Are Worried.
Some lawmakers think they have found a fix.
Their idea is to spread the USF fee to broadband internet providers too, not just old-fashioned phone companies. On paper, that sounds like it might ease the burden by widening the pool of who pays.
But the coalition, with Citizen Outreach among the signers, says this would backfire on regular families.
In August 2022, then-FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr cautioned that expanding the contribution base to include broadband internet access service would necessarily raise the cost of broadband for consumers, citing a study finding that assessing broadband could increase consumers' monthly bills by as much as $17.96 a month, or almost $200 a year.
Carr, who now chairs the FCC, put it bluntly:
“Put simply, the squeeze is not worth the juice when it comes to replacing the existing telecommunications assessment with one on broadband,” he said.
For conservatives who believe in limited government, including our own organization here in Nevada, this fight is bigger than one fee. It is about whether Washington keeps papering over a broken program with new taxes instead of fixing what is actually wrong with it.
A Program That Grew Way Beyond Its Original Job.
The coalition argues USF has strayed far from its original mission of helping rural phone customers.
The program has been expanded far beyond its original intent to subsidize broadband and public school technology in addition to low income phone service, and with over 130 different federal broadband programs spread across 15 different agencies, there is no need for USF to cover the same ground.
In other words, taxpayers may already be funding similar broadband programs several times over through other agencies.
Critics of the reform push, mostly on the left, argue that USF remains a vital lifeline for rural and low-income Americans and that funding gaps need to be closed one way or another.
That is a fair point worth weighing. But the coalition's answer is not to raise everyone's bill. It is to clean up the program itself.
What Comes Next.
The letter urges Congress to reform who qualifies for USF money and to consider retiring outdated subsidies, rather than expanding the tax base. Whether lawmakers listen remains to be seen.
Telecom policy fights like this one tend to move slowly, but with Citizen Outreach and dozens of other groups applying pressure, the issue is not going away quietly.
If you care about keeping your internet bill low, this is a good time to make your voice heard. Nevadans can reach out to their members of Congress and ask where they stand on broadband taxes.
Staying informed and engaged is the best way to make sure Washington hears from everyday folks, not just lobbyists on either side.
Read Full Letter: Oppose Broadband Taxes to Bail Out USF
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