Council Tax Not Expensive Enough? TV License May Be Merged with It.
In the News
His suggestion comes amid calls to abolish the £159 fee altogether.
The license fee was frozen for two years back in January as the government attempted to support families hit by rising living costs.
This means that households will be paying the £159 fee until 2024.
Speaking to the Times, the corporation's boss - an ex-Goldman Sachs banker - said the license fee as "great value" but said he is open to alternatives.
He said he was against funding through general taxation because “politicians should not control the purse strings”.
“We study what it would take to replicate BBC output in the private sector. It’s 450 quid a year,” he said.
Sharp explained he is considering other forms of funding such as a levy on all households or an extra BBC fee on council tax bills with the price being determined by the size of each home or even a Netflix-style subscription model.
Another option would be to offer a subscription service where users could choose between a basic BBC package and a more expensive package with extra services such as binge-watching.
Article from December 4, 2022: www.thesun.co.uk/money/20642654/brits-higher-council-tax-bills-bbc-licence-fee-scrapped/
I didn't know they were planning this until a user on YouTube mentioned it. So they "scrap" the TVL by merging it with the Council Tax? What a scam that would be.
The other option is to make it into a subscription and that's what it should be rather than forcing people to pay more for a service they don't use.
If people want to watch BBC content, then they should pay for it. I don't want nor care to.
Considering the waste of money they have made with their recent rebranding I think it's about time the BBC became independent and got funding through subscriptions rather than relying on forced taxation. I pay for our tv licence but I will not be happy if it's added to our council tax bill.
The BBC should force hotels to pay a TV licence for each TV in their hotel. If I am not mistaken you only need to buy one TV licence regardless of how many Television set you have in your home or hotel.
People shouldn't be forced to pay for an entertainment service. Yes taxation is fair and necessary for important services like the NHS, Police, Fire Brigade etc but not for light entertainment. This is getting to be a complete farce. If it can't survive in a commercial environment then clearly its products are not good enough or are not produced efficiently. Many millions now have zero interest in the BBC and don't have a TV license so to force them to pay for the service through the council tax is theft quite honestly. The crime isn't people not paying for a TV license the crime is the TV license itself however its funded.
BonzoBanana The police is an important service, but they're so lacking and "unuseful" that it's hard to support them.
Instead of fighting crime they're arresting people for mean comments, praying silently, or dancing the macarena...
The U.K. police used to be kept in such high regards though those days are gone.
PhilipMarc can you explain the praying silently bit, how can that be an offence? We have a lady who sits with children on our transport reading aloud her holy book which she is learning by heart. I always thought that was a no no but of course no one is brave enough to say anything. This will probably be deleted, no one can say anything about anything these days, even if justified.
I do watch BBC dramas like Marie Antoinette, and Versailles was magnificent but I don't watch it enough to justify my quarterly fee as a pensioner.
PhilipMarc They have become highly politicised now rather than impartial which they should be. I am referring to the Police but actually that can apply just as well to the BBC.
I really doubt that Councils would want to deal with this as some do not watch BBC so will apply for rebates.
I was just talking about this the other day I dout the council will do this chase people up for tv licence I know a few people who don't watch tv so don't buy a licence totally agree with them they should be doing away with the tv licence altogether
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