The FCC’s powers of taxation: A signal of bad governance

[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler floated a proposal to increase the E-Rate funding by $1.5 billion, or about 60%, raising total funding to about $3.9 billion. The issue here isn’t whether schools and libraries should have additional funding, or whether they should spend any additional funding on technology. Rather, the issue is that the FCC has become a de facto taxing authority and education funder, a task for which it was not designed.

[Jamison is the director and Gunter Professor of the Public Utility Research Center (PURC) at the University of Florida]