Missouri Revised Statutes Title XII. Public Health and Welfare § 209.255. Rate established to recover costs of programs--surcharge, limitations, collection--exemption from taxes

1. The commission shall establish a rate recovery mechanism to recover the costs of implementing and maintaining the programs provided for in section 209.253, which shall be applied to each basic telephone access line. Any surcharge established by such rate recovery mechanism shall not be imposed upon more than one hundred basic telephone access lines per subscriber per location. Any surcharge established by such rate recovery mechanism shall not be imposed on any telephone line used to provide pay telephone service. The surcharge may appear on the bill of each local exchange telephone subscriber identified separately as a deaf relay service and equipment distribution program fund surcharge. The commission shall not vary the amount of the surcharge between telephone companies nor between the class or grade of customers of any telephone company. The surcharge provided for in this section shall be exempt from the taxes provided for in chapter 144, and the surcharge shall not be construed as gross receipts or revenue of the company collecting such for the purpose of local taxation.

2. Each basic telephone access line subscriber is liable for the payment of any surcharge provided for in subsection 1 of this section. The local exchange telephone company shall not be liable for any uncollected surcharge, nor shall it have any obligation to initiate any action to enforce the collection of the surcharge.