A powerful Oklahoma regulatory agency is currently considering a proposed new "toll-free" service to every citizen with a cell or land-line telephone. But there is no free lunch. Someone must pay if services are going to be expanded. Shockingly, that someone is you.

Staff at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission recently proposed a rule that would obligate all telephone customers in Oklahoma to pay a new tax of $3.19 per line, per month on every line they have. This includes landlines, wireless lines and Internet lines. I believe this to be another subsidy, pure and simple, at your expense.

When asked about the proposal, OCC Chairman Bob Anthony stated, "Why can you call toll-free nationwide with your cell phone, but you can't call statewide toll-free with your landline at home or at work?" A more appropriate question would have been: Why is the OCC staff proposing to subsidize outdated landline technology by increasing costs on adopters of wireless technology throughout our state?

Chairman Anthony should recognize that this is not 1980 and decreasing landline usage is the result of progress and technological change, as an increasing number of people switch to cell phones as their sole means of communication while businesses switch to new technologies such as Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or cell phones.

The OCC plan would have taxpayers continue to subsidize a failing business model despite a clear preference expressed by consumers and businesses for mobile and internet communication.

The fact is, Oklahoma leads the nation with the largest percentage of "cell phone only" households. Approximately 26 percent of Oklahoma households will be paying $3 to $4 per line with absolutely no benefit, in a misguided attempt to prop up a failing infrastructure by subsidizing a small number of households that still purchase long-distance plans for their landlines.

This proposal will not bring business to Oklahoma, as claimed by a lobbyist for one of the rural phone companies. Instead it will hurt small, local businesses the most, forcing them to pay for unwanted services.

Why should a bakery in Oklahoma City or a small convenience store in Tulsa be obligated to pay for a service that they do not need? Chances are that businesses such as these would never need to call outside the toll-free calling areas that already exist in Oklahoma's larger cities. They would be paying additional taxes for a service they would never use.

For people who do occasionally need to make long-distance calls, Oklahoma has nearly 30 different companies that provide competitive long-distance service, in addition to many cell phone options that offer nationwide calling plans. Raising prices through an arbitrary tax will surely decrease some of those choices and, eventually, decrease the level of innovation and technology available to Oklahomans.

For me and my family, it's a $200-a-year tax. What is it going to cost you? This is something this state cannot afford to do. Americans for Prosperity wants to remind everyone: Seldom is anything "free" ever free.

• Stuart Jolly