The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday proposed a rule to ban any hidden and bogus junk fees, which can mask the total cost of concert tickets, hotel rooms and utility bills.
President Joe Biden has made the removal of these fees a priority of his administration. The Democrat’s effort has led to a legislative push and a spate of initiatives aimed at helping consumers. Administration officials have said these additional costs can inflate prices and waste people’s time.
“The proposed rule would prohibit corporations from running up the bills with hidden and bogus fees, requiring honest pricing and spurring firms to compete on honesty rather than deception,” FTC Chair Lina Kahn said on a call with reporters. “Violators will be subject to civil penalties and be required to pay back Americans that they tricked.”
The FTC proposal is being coupled with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announcing that it will block large banks from charging junk fees to provide basic customer services.
There’s also intermittent tax holidays for various classes of items (school supplies in the late summer, certain foods, infant supplies), which can apply at the municipality, county, or state level - or any combination of the three.
With regard to retail stores, especially ones that sell groceries and sundries, the tax landscape is just too complicated and ever-changing for stores to be retagging shelves all the time.