There’s an extensive article on this at domainarts.com, but in a nutshell:
- ICANN tried telling Verisign not to monetize unregistered domains, back in 2003
- Verisign wasn’t happy, so they sued ICANN
- ICANN couldn’t afford to fight, because they are a non-profit org
- A deal was made whereas Verisign will keep their control over .com forever, and will be allowed to increase prices
It costs almost nothing for Verisign to maintain the .com registry, yet they keep raising prices. It can be argued that customers can choose a different domain extension, but the reality is .com is and always will be the #1 TLD in the mind of the public.
That is why you domain costs are going up, yet again.