Ever wonder why a $79 cell phone or cable plan ends up costing you nearly a hundred bucks? Taxes and fees add up fast, but what are they for?

Every time you turn on your cable TV, use your cell phone, or flip a light switch, you don't just pay for the service. Your monthly bills are full of excess fees. TODAY'S TMJ4'S Aaron Diamant talked to Amanda Fonk, a frustrated cable customer.

"I look it over, but not in depth I guess," Amanda admits.

She should look it over. University of Wisconsin Milwaukee economist Jim Brown explains, "We are definitely seeing more and more explicit fees identified on the invoices or bills that you get."

For example, an average Time Warner cable bill can hit you with nearly $18 in taxes and fees. One of those fees is the Federal Universal Service Fund. Anyone who's got cable pays it.

Diamant spoke to cable customer Shaune Vann.

Diamant: "What do you think a Federal Universal Service charge is?"

Shaune: "To use federal lines universally? (Laughing) I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know."

Turns out federal law requires that charge. The money goes into a big pool, which the feds dole back out to cable and telephone companies to subsidize service in rural areas.

We asked Time Warner's Stacy Zaja for an explanation.

Diamant: "It doesn't sound like you have much choice."

Stacy: "No, in fact, Time Warner Cable has no other incremental fees that we pass on to our customers."

They only have the ones required by law, like fees for the FCC, and something called a 'Franchise Fee'. Local governments impose that fee to raise money for community projects.

"Consumers are always paying, it's just a question of is it broken out or just lumped into the overall cost," Brown explains.

Think about it like this. You buy a Brett Favre commemorative T-shirt. You pay $12.99 for it, but you didn't just buy the T-shirt. You also pay part of the store's rent, the utility bill, and some of the employee's salary. It's just not all spelled out on the price tag.

For example, let's consider a phone bill from Verizon Wireless. Nearly $11 in taxes and fees. There's a Universal Service Charge again, plus 'Regulatory' and 'Administrative Charges'.

A spokesperson for Verizon told us those fees actually pay for mandatory federal licenses and infrastructure.

There's one last fee. It shows up on your We Energy bill. A 'Non-Taxable Customer Charge', which actually goes into a fund that helps reduce energy use in Wisconsin.

Don't expect any changes soon. It would take an act of Congress or the State Legislature to lower most of these fees. The companies charging you the fees are required to explain them if you ask.