iTax - Broadcasting charge 'whether you have a TV or not'

jxbr · **Joined:** Aug 2, 2009 **Posts:** 1513

http://news.eircom.net/breakingnews/202 ... w=Standard

Quote:

Minister considering broadcasting charge 'whether you have a TV or not'

The Communications Minister has revealed that he is considering introducing a new broadcasting charge, which would apply to every household - whether they have a television or not.

Pat Rabbitte's told the Dáil that RTÉ is losing €25m a year in licence fee payments because of evasion.

The proposed new charge would apply to people who view television on their computers and smartphones, and would be collected along with the new household charge.

The Minister said that his Department had concluded that the charge is a "viable model".

Why not

instead of

Minister considering telling RTE to sort out their own finances and create a viable economic model without relying on the crutch of external financial support that introduces a moral hazard into RTE's money management

Madness of Crowds · **Joined:** Apr 4, 2010 **Posts:** 1788

Being a law abiding citizen, I'll pay the charge if necessary, but it still won't persuade me to clutter my home with a TV.

mr_anderson · **Posted:** Wed Jan 18, 2012 5:39 pm

jxbr wrote:

http://news.eircom.net/breakingnews/20296160/?view=Standard

Quote:

Minister considering broadcasting charge 'whether you have a TV or not'

The Communications Minister has revealed that he is considering introducing a new broadcasting charge, which would apply to every household - whether they have a television or not.

Pat Rabbitte's told the Dáil that RTÉ is losing €25m a year in licence fee payments because of evasion.

The proposed new charge would apply to people who view television on their computers and smartphones, and would be collected along with the new household charge.

The Minister said that his Department had concluded that the charge is a "viable model".

Why not

instead of

Minister considering telling RTE to sort out their own finances and create a viable economic model without relying on the crutch of external financial support that introduces a moral hazard into RTE's money management

Because if the bill is passed, RTE will do their utmost to make the government look competant and (re-)electable.

karlos_the_jackal · **Joined:** Nov 21, 2006 **Posts:** 934

mr_anderson wrote:

jxbr wrote:

http://news.eircom.net/breakingnews/20296160/?view=Standard

Quote:

Minister considering broadcasting charge 'whether you have a TV or not'

The Communications Minister has revealed that he is considering introducing a new broadcasting charge, which would apply to every household - whether they have a television or not.

Pat Rabbitte's told the Dáil that RTÉ is losing €25m a year in licence fee payments because of evasion.

The proposed new charge would apply to people who view television on their computers and smartphones, and would be collected along with the new household charge.

The Minister said that his Department had concluded that the charge is a "viable model".

Why not

instead of

Minister considering telling RTE to sort out their own finances and create a viable economic model without relying on the crutch of external financial support that introduces a moral hazard into RTE's money management

Because if the bill is passed, RTE will do their utmost to make the government look competant and (re-)electable.

In all fairness, this business of only those owning a Physical TV set paying is ridiculous in the age we live in, technology has moved on.

RTE do certain things well, and I would hate to see them gone altogether. However, they have a ring-fenced income from TV licences. Let them be funded out of the Department of Arts and scrap it out with all the other worthy causes every budget and see what they get. Suddenly they will discover they can get value for money and nobody else is willing to pay Pat Kenny, Joe Duffy and Ryan Tubridy the kind of money they are on.

BoyRacer · **Joined:** Jul 26, 2009 **Posts:** 10079

If RTE want to charge for putting services on the web, let them lock down their domain.
If you want to watch RTE on the web, the person should be able to register their TV licence and simply enter the details when logging on.

I object to this tax for several reasons:

1. The services RTE TV and radio provides are available on commercial channels.
2. With the current TV property ownership tax if you don't want RTEs service get rid of the TV. I did and don't pay any licence and I'm better off.
3. Putting this on a household charge means the money doled out to RTE goes into a slush fund meaning there is no accountability for how it is allocated or spent. It is entirely a political decision.
4. It will increase the cost to householders in rapid order and is probably being used as filler to to justify the rapid increase in this within a few years to between €1000 & €2000+ depending on where you live in the country. In other words it will be another progressive income tax.
5. I object to RTE using the TV tax to subsidise wages above market rates of their commercial competitors in this country.
6. If RTE want to charge for putting their services on the internet, then they can lock their content behind a paywall and have users register their TV licence and service provider. They then enter the licence number when they want to access content on the RTE internet domains. They can do this today and no one can object since RTE.IE is their domain and they can restrict access as they see fit.

Renting And Proud! · **Joined:** Apr 4, 2008 **Posts:** 1333

BoyRacer wrote:

If RTE want to charge for putting services on the web, let them lock down their domain.
If you want to watch RTE on the web, the person should be able to register their TV licence and simply enter the details when logging on.

I object to this tax for several reasons:

1. The services RTE TV and radio provides are available on commercial channels.
2. With the current TV property ownership tax if you don't want RTEs service get rid of the TV. I did and don't pay any licence and I'm better off.
3. Putting this on a household charge means the money doled out to RTE goes into a slush fund meaning there is no accountability for how it is allocated or spent. It is entirely a political decision.
4. It will increase the cost to householders in rapid order and is probably being used as filler to to justify the rapid increase in this within a few years to between €1000 & €2000+ depending on where you live in the country. In other words it will be another progressive income tax.
5. I object to RTE using the TV tax to subsidise wages above market rates of their commercial competitors in this country.
6. If RTE want to charge for putting their services on the internet, then they can lock their content behind a paywall and
have users register their TV licence and service provider. They then enter the licence number when they want to access content on the RTE internet domains. They can do this today and no one can object since RTE.IE is their domain and they can restrict access as they see fit.

I like these ideas especially 6

I'd get rid of the TV tomorrow as well if the wife would let me

No TV licence, no cable bill for a million channels showing piles of crap I never watch etc etc

HouseOfCards · **Joined:** Aug 27, 2008 **Posts:** 154

I'm sure the well paid folks in Montrose have done the numbers... x% watching online etc.
Just put RTE.ie behind a paywall and take subscriptions for all those willing to watch the shite.

One thing we just can't have..... people watching RTE for free!!!

room305 · **Joined:** May 24, 2008 **Posts:** 1183

This certainly is a ridiculous proposition. I have no TV and rarely log on to RTE.ie either. Could comfortably do without it. Cannot even remember the last time I watched an RTE produced show because I seemed to lose all but a passing interest in following "de economy" about six months ago. What is "watching TV on your laptop"? Does it include YouTube et al. or just the content TV stations make freely accessible on their website?

If this is tacked onto the Household Charge will it be my landlord's problem also?

Barney Gumble · **Joined:** Feb 9, 2010 **Posts:** 4725

I've no issue with property taxes etc. but with this one we are entering the realms of having to buy a dog licence without actually owning a dog because you might see someone else walking theirs.

Ivor Lot · **Posted:** Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:35 am

I got rid of my TV as well and I don't miss it at all. I object to the salaries paid to the likes of Duffy,Tubridy,Kenny etc. and not having to pay a TV licence made me feel a bit better about that.
I don't see what the difficulty is in charging people who want to watch RTE and not charging those that don't.RTE is run for the benefit of its employees and their cronies and I really really have a problem with this.

TheEmigrant · **Joined:** Sep 14, 2009 **Posts:** 1392

Quote:

The proposed new charge would apply to people who view television on their computers and smartphones, and would be collected along with the new household charge.

If RTE did not have a presence online then I reckon it would be an abuse of the TV licence legislation to charge a tax on computers just because people could watch "television" on them.

In any case, i think it is makes sense to just tax everybody and release the TV licence inspectors into more productive employment. Of course (sic?) the licence fee should be reduced to factor in the increased catchment numbers and the administration savings.

mr_anderson · **Posted:** Thu Jan 19, 2012 2:18 am

The whole concept of a licence fee is so completely outdated.
Sometimes an outlandish proposal such as this sounds it's deathknell .

We can only hope.

BoyRacer · **Joined:** Jul 26, 2009 **Posts:** 10079

Ireland is a bankrupt country and RTE is a luxury we cannot afford to keep subsidising. It is a light entertainment company that can operate on fully commercial basis, it's cost structure is for it to sort out. Offloading it's deficit costs on taxpayers backs whether they use its services or not must be rejected, it's time for that company to sink or swim.

dolanbaker · **Posted:** Thu Jan 19, 2012 7:31 am

At the end of the day, just how much of the fee goes towards running the process that actually collects, enforces and administers the the "tax" collection. Abolishing & merging it into another tax makes sense if you want to save money, the same could be said for many other aspects of government.

catbear · **Posted:** Thu Jan 19, 2012 7:39 am

dolanbaker wrote:

At the end of the day, just how much of the fee goes towards running the process that actually collects, enforces and administers the the "tax" collection. Abolishing & merging it into another tax makes sense if you want to save money, the same could be said for many other aspects of government.

Quote:

From 1989, the public broadcasting fee was collected and disbursed by the broadcasting commission (NZ On Air) on a contestable basis to support local content production. The licence fee was abolished in New Zealand in 1999, ostensibly because of concerns about collection costs. NZ On Air was then funded by a direct appropriation from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

wikipedia on TV licenses.
Same population, so they can't use that as an excuse.

Quote:

The tax was abolished not because the group won in court, but because a frail 78 year old pensioner managed to convince a hundred thousand fellow New Zealanders that they shouldn’t pay the tax.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0011/S00040.htm

iTax - Broadcasting charge 'whether you have a TV or not'

Who is online