Thank you, Catherine, for bringing this to our attention.
The link to ARRL didn’t work for me, so I went there and found this link:
http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-application-fee-proposal-proceeding-is-open-for-comments
According to the document at the link:
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-20-116A1.pdf ;
<https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-20-116A1.pdf>
27. Other applications for personal licenses are mostly automated and do not
have individualized staff costs for data input or review. For these automated
processes—new/major modifications, renewal, and minor modifications—we propose
a nominal application fee of $50 due to automating the processes, routine ULS
maintenance, and limited instances where staff input is required. Although
there is currently no fee for vanity call signs in the Amateur Radio Service,
we find that such applications impose similar costs in aggregate on Commission
resources as new applications and therefore propose a $50 fee.
28. For administrative updates modifications, which also are highly automated,
we find that it is in the public interest to encourage licensees to update
their information without a charge. We thus propose no application fee for
administrative updates modifications.
29. In instances where an applicant elects to receive a physical license by
mail (including requests for a duplicate license), the Commission incurs costs
for printing and mailing the duplicate authorization. The Commission has
proposed to eliminate these services31—but to the extent the Commission does
not do so, we propose a fee of $50 to cover the costs of these services.
30. We seek comment on these proposals.
I am going to politely vent my spleen here on the FCC’s proposed quintupling of
the Amateur Service fees:
The FCC intends to charge Amateurs a minimum of $50 for applications and
renewals, plus another $50 for vanity call signs, and another $50 for a
hard-copy printout of your license. So, renewing a vanity call sign and
getting a printout of the license will now cost $150! I understand that the
fees need to go up, and I am not against that, but this is quite a jump!
This is what happens when conservatives run government as if it were a
business, and not a service. Just as how the Republican Party is actively
killing the Post Office - on behalf of the CEOs and stock holders of FedEx and
UPS that can not even begin to compete with the USPS on a level playing field -
by treating it as a business and not a service, now the FCC is looking at
charging Amateurs as if we were wealthy businesses and not actual human beings.
Since the GOP constantly decreases our government's revenues by cutting taxes
on the people that can afford to pay them, they are turning to us ‘little
people’ to make up the shortfall. I don’t know about you, but I sure think the
Gates, Bezos and Musks of America should be paying WAY more in income taxes,
not have their taxes cut - again and again!
The Republican Leadership has been lying for 40 years when they claim that
‘cutting taxes increases revenue’ as their justification for transferring
wealth from your pockets to the offshore accounts of their CEOs. I don’t know
about you, but since I am a Liberal I do NOT believe that 2–1=5. And we see
that the results of these constant tax cuts (again, for only the most insanely
wealthy) are are the opposite. The Federal deficit climbs EVERY time a
Republican is in the White House but - somehow - the deficit is ONLY a problem
for Republicans when a Democrat is in power.
Because of decades of Republican’s incredibly harmful tax cuts, Mark Zuckerborg
no longer has to pay taxes on his income and Facebook got a rebate of several
million dollars(!) on their hundred-million dollar *profits*, (and don’t get me
started on Exxon’s four-hundred-and-six-million dollar tax refund in 2016!) you
and me have to make up the shortfall. Because the Republican Party cuts taxes
on the inconceivably wealthy, it is now raising them on us in the form of
ridiculously high fees. It is simply not reasonable to charge $150 for a vanity
renewal. It is simply not reasonable to charge $50 for a hard-copy.There is NO
WAY the FCC’s expenses are that high. They are looking at us as a revenue
stream, not a service of amateurs!
How ridiculously high are the FCC’s proposed fees? The inflation calculator
says that the $10 license fee set in 1986 is the equivalent of $23.64, at and
inflation rate of 136.4%. So, adjusted for inflation, the fee would be today,
just under $25. If the fee had been kept up the GOP would be doubling the fee.
But the Republican Party wants to increase the fee to five times it’s current
price, and you KNOW they’ll keep jacking that up over oncoming years.
When they say “We seek comment on these proposals.” I hope I’ve given you folks
something to comment about.
Robin Grant, KB1LTJ
On Sep 9, 2020, at 12:13 PM, Catherine James <catherine.james@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Description of proposed changes:
http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-proposes-to-reinstate-amateur-radio-service-fee ;
<http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-proposes-to-reinstate-amateur-radio-service-fee>
The NPRM has now been formally filed if anyone would like to comment.
It's MD Docket 20-270 at:
https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings ;<https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings>
https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express ;
<https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express>
For "Proceeding", type 20-270.
