I truly tend to agree with you on this. To complicate matters, I'm pretty sure the Universal service fund not only does things like 911, but also helps poor people afford phone bills. The phone bill tax isn't the best way to do it, I think. Honestly, I think they should be fairly flat easy-to-understand taxes for the phones (including wireless service).

That said, I'm not sure how cell phone taxes wind up looking on a bill, honestly. I have weirdly never had contract telephone service. I've never been able to justify the costs. For years, I had prepaid plans (that kept getting better) in the US, then moved out of the country.