Why is there a USF Fee or Tax on my bill?

Why is there a USF Fee or Tax on my bill? Long distance companies used to make money off of your USF Fee which is an FCC mandated fee that goes to schools, roads etc... in your community. AT&T used to charge 11.5% and MCI used to charge 12.3% for something the FCC used to charge them 5% for. Since these companies were making a ton of money, off of what the Public thought was a mandated fee, the FCC just changed the rule so that all telephone companies are required by law to charge the same amount, and give it all to the FCC. Read below to find out what all the USF is used for. "We also emphasize that carriers may not mark up federal universal service line-item amounts above the contribution factor. Thus, carriers may not, during the fourth quarter of 2003, recover through a federal universal service line item an amount that exceeds the interstate telecommunications charges on a customer