martin wrote:
On Thu, 3 Nov 2005 13:23:55 -0000, "Mike Lyle"
wrote:

martin wrote:
On Thu, 3 Nov 2005 00:28:24 -0000, "Mike Lyle"
wrote:
[...on broadcast licence fee...]
OT, I know. I've pondered this long and carefully for years and
years. It does seem an absurd method, and in very rare cases an
unjust one, but nobody's ever suggested a better way of funding
[...]

From the national budget like the Dutch do.

Yes, that's a possibility. But I fear it would inevitably lead to
political interference, and there's rather too much of that
already.
It would also be less fair, as two-earner households would pay
twice,
and presumably those without TV would then have to pay -- though I
suppose the present enforcement system could still be used to
avoid
that, with yet another section to fill in on the income tax forms.

Political interference hasn't happened in NL. It has resulted in
not
having to finance those who collect & enforce payment of licenses.
Likewise computerising income tax forms has resulted in a dramatic
cut
in those employed to process the forms.
Licenses are just another form of tax for the majority of the
population.

I have a suspicion that NL pollies may be rather more trustworthy
than British ones; but I could be hopelessly wrong.

I take the point about not having to pay for separate collecting
staff; but I think that would be nearly balanced by having to retain
staff to process and police the exemptions for people who claim not
to have TV -- that's computerised already, but it still needs real
people on the ground*. Unless, of course, we were simply to force
everybody to contribute regardless; and I don't really like that.

But I really don't think the present licence fee is a tax, but a
genuine fee in return for a specific service. The number of people
who don't use BBC services but do use the commercial ones must be
insignificant. And even they probably watch or listen to programmes
made by broadcasters originally trained at the BBC, so it's not
entirely unfair. And, again, isn't some of the infrastructure used by
commercial channels funded from the licence fee?

*A friend of mine doesn't watch TV, and has no aerial; but he does
use a DVD player and a TV set. He had to show a highly sceptical
enforcer that he'd blocked up the aerial socket on his DVD player
with Araldite!

--
Mike.