AT&T Taking $1B Charge to Cover Costs of New Health-Care Legislation

AT&T Taking $1B Charge to Cover Costs of New Health-Care Legislation

FOXBusiness



AT&T (T: 26.24, 0.08, 0.31%) said Friday that tax ramifications related to the newly passed health-care legislation will force it to take a $1 billion non-cash charge in the first quarter.

In papers filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, AT&T said the charge stems from changes in the tax laws regarding the Medicare Part D subsidy. AT&T will no longer be able to deduct tax-free subsidies it receives from the government for providing retirees prescription-drug benefits.

“AT&T Inc. intends to take a non-cash charge of approximately $1 billion in the fi

(visit the link for the full news article)

OKAY THIS IS THE TYPE PF THING THAT ADDS FEUL TO THE FIRE NOW ONE OF THE BIGGEST COMPANIES IN THE WORLD IS COMPLAINING ABOUT HEALTH CARE REFORM WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO WHATS GOING ON AND WILL THEY GO UP ON THERE RATES AND HOW WILL THIS ENRAGE FOLKS HAVING TO PAY HIGHER CELL PHONE BILLS TO COVER HEALTH CARE OR IS THIS JUST A PLOY BY ATT TO GET MORE FEES FROM CONSUMERS...OR HAS THE DOMINOE EFFECT STARTED


(visit the link for the full news article)

Please take of the caps lock!

reply to post by Phlynx

sorry about that

Cue the across the board ATT rate hikes. Time to kill my contract and move to disposables. Should have done it a while ago anyways.

How do I visit the link to the story. Are you messing with MY HEAD?????? I dont like the CAP thing either.

This is further proof that multi billion dollar industries don't give a rats patuti about humanity. Furthermore, it also proves that it would rather charge the taxpayer an exhorbitant amount of money while at the same time further incorporating hidden costs and make believe fees against their clients.

In a world where it has been stated that Good would prevail over evil solely based upon the good will and charitability of mankind...

I just don't see it.

well... there goes the neighborhood. Wish they would just get on with the program and stop wasting my time...

so you guys are pissed off that in order for them to help fund people having health care they are removing one of the huge corporate tax write offs that this giant evil company ( they are damn evil. they have the death star as a logo) has been getting for far too long and shouldn't have gotten in the first place?

People need to make up their minds. Are you for the big guy or the little guy or are you just bitching because it has to do with obama?

3M Anticipates New U.S. Healthcare Law to Result in One-Time Charge of $85 – $90 Million After Tax in First Quarter of 2010

www.businesswire.com...

They're all billing their shareholders, not their subscribers.

More scams and misrepresentation.

This is the part that we were assured would never happen, right?

sigh

reply to post by liveandletlive

www.foxnews.com the business link

reply to post by whoshotJR


so you guys are pissed off that in order for them to help fund people having health care they are removing one of the huge corporate tax write offs that this giant evil company ( they are damn evil. they have the death star as a logo) has been getting for far too long and shouldn't have gotten in the first place?

People need to make up their minds. Are you for the big guy or the little guy or are you just bitching because it has to do with obama?
Hey take it easy im not bitching just presenting some news

Originally posted by DarkspARCS
This is further proof that multi billion dollar industries don't give a rats patuti about humanity.

ur exactly correct
just give it a couple weeks
and there will be a windfall
of big companies doing the
same exact thing, covering
their costs by passing it along.
But this is the first public
announcement of it that
I've seen.

There will be more

The hell with AT&T. In the 80's when i was a young teen, my parents used AT&T. Theyde often get fictatious charges on thier phone bill, saing we called cnetral america, alaska, europe...and what a hassle it was to tell them we dont know anyone their!
come to find out, it was fake charges they added tin inflate the bill

Originally posted by alchemist2012
reply to post by Phlynx

 

sorry about that

Don't apologize. Fix it. You can edit your post.

I am not bitching either way. I have been an ATT customer for over 20 years and I know they use any excuse they can to raise rates. The will not publically say they are rasing rates but be damned if they will let the company or the share holder's eat the extra expense. It will show up without any notification as always with a reminder of thier contract policies stating they reserve the right at ANY time for ANY reason to raise rates. So since I can barely afford what I have now, this is just the straw. I am not mad just broke.

Honestly, what did people expect? Companies do business to make a profit. Everybody that is aware of what happens when you raise taxes on business the business passes it on to the consumer. Standard business practice, nothing evil about it.

Originally posted by whoshotJR
so you guys are pissed off that in order for them to help fund people having health care they are removing one of the huge corporate tax write offs that this giant evil company ( they are damn evil. they have the death star as a logo) has been getting for far too long and shouldn't have gotten in the first place?

People need to make up their minds. Are you for the big guy or the little guy or are you just bitching because it has to do with obama?

Um, "The Death Star" is a fictional object in a series of movies. Just sayin'.

The issue is, if ATT has to offset 1b in money, where does that come from? Well, first of all, those plummeting cell phone prices that we have had over the last decade are gone. Rate increases will be the order of the day. The current trend of moving prepaid business to an "Unlimited" usage platform will die, as there is no money to be made if you don't make airtime seem scarce by increasing rates.

Next will be service. You cannot afford to pay the call center business (it costs about 40-50 cents per handleminute to operate a call center. For every minute of calls handled, it costs the company about 40-50 cents. That will definitely increase, meaning that to meet revenue expectations (and prevent steep devaluation of stocks) fewer employees will be hired to fill those seats and take those calls. Of course, the activations calls will still be handled to ensure new revenue channels, but the customer service queues (that answer billing questions, etc) will suffer greatly in service.

Then you have infrastructure. Repairs will eat up the budget (i will get to that in a minute), so upgrades will be far slower in devlopment and launch (good by all hopes for "5G", or even reliable "4G"). You will also see the return of large roaming areas to increase, further, revenue streams (roam sharing contracts between companies like ATT and TMobile will cause a shrinkage in "in network" areas).

Finally, you get increased overhead in general. The factors that drive your costs higher will also drive your vendors costs higher, which will be passed on to you (and, by proxy, your customers).

I get what you are saying about the evil corporations. But, unless we scrap and redesign the system, the health of the corporation directly impacts the health of your bank account.

reply to post by alchemist2012


AT&T are among the biggest crooks out there and ruin small businesses in America.

How? By telling small business they need a separate line and services for their business and then not telling them what this extra expense will end up costing a new and fragile business.
One price is quoted over the phone and they will say something like an 800 number will cost you $10 a month and there are some regulation fees.
And high speed internet might run you about $55 a month - there are again some additional fees. They lie plainly and deliberately to trick the consumer into a contract.

Would you like to take a 3 year contract and reduce cost considerably? Sure!
When you get you first bill for the 800 number it is $200 each and every month (without any calls at all) not the $10 you were quoted and the $55 high speed internet service comes with a mandatory business line and ends up costing $300 each and every month.

You cannot make your first dollar in a start up before ATT bankrupts you. And it does it on purpose as a way to grow their profits.
It is satisfying to know they are in courts now fighting to save their reputation against people more powerful than me making the same complaints.

Eventually ATT will go down because they deserve to and people know it. You cannot f people like they have and not get just desserts eventually.



Note: I despise ATT they bankrupted me and sabotaged a dream but I will never ask anyone to throw a rock through their windows.

I will speak my mind but I will not show you my gun or shake my fist in your face until you hate ATT like I do.

This is how you can recognize a "fringe element" Don't entertain them or their ideas...run like hell because where there is fringe there is going to be crossfire



... because I am so fed up with the hate speech I am going to shoot the MF's myself. Just kidding. When I say shoot I really mean "shoot" with my vote!

[edit on 28-3-2010 by rusethorcain]