UK consdering 1/2 priced TV-licences for "the poor" (2-tier system for US far behind?)

BBC ^ | Saturday, 27 December, 2003 | staff writer

[yankeedame]

Last Updated: Saturday, 27 December, 2003, 16:28 GMT

'Half-price TV licences for poor'

Forty women a year on average are jailed for licence evasion

Half-price television licences should be given to the poorest households, an influential think-tank has urged. The Institute for Public Policy Research wants concessions offered to cut fee evasion and the number of single parents jailed for non-payment.

Last year, 398,000 households were caught without the £116-a-year television licence

An average of 40 women a year - the majority single parents on income support - are jailed for non-payment.

The IPPR said on Saturday that single parents on social security benefits should be offered half off.

The institute, which has ties with the government, says it will use a major conference on BBC charter renewal next month to put pressure on ministers to offer the concession.

The concession would not be the responsibility of the BBC and must be decided by the government.

'Regressive impact'

The IPPR report, due to be published in January, found the licence fee takes a much higher proportion of income from poorer households.

The BBC would have to be reimbursed £48.5m a year For those in the lowest income group the fee is 1.85% of their income, almost 11 times more than those in higher groups.

The institute has calculated that by giving 837,000 single parents on benefits half-price licences the Government would reduce the incentive for evasion.

The BBC would have to be reimbursed £48.5m from the benefits system.

But that compares with £146 million spent each year recovering fees.

The IPPR also concludes there is a "pretty strong case" for concessions being given to everyone on unemployment benefits.

Jamie Cowling, co-author of the report, said: "To date it is our belief that questions around the regressive impact of the licence fee have not been addressed because any discussion in this area is usually led by those who have most to gain from weakening the BBC.

"The irony is, of course, that changes to the methods of collection of the licence fee are not within the gift of the BBC. It is down to the government to address the issue."

People aged over 75 already get the licence free while the registered blind pay half.

And disabled people and over-60s living in residential homes or sheltered accommodation pay just £5.

BBC charter

Earlier this month Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said the BBC licence fee is likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future unless a better alternative is found.

Ms Jowell repeated comments that getting rid of the fee was "somewhere between the impossible and improbable".

Fee payers will decide the BBC's future through a public debate, she added.

The BBC charter - through which the government sets out how the corporation should be funded and how much money it gets - is up for renewal in 2006.

[yankeedame]

'Half-price TV licences for poor'

And this mean, of course, that in order to make up lost revenue they'll have raise the cost of a TV licences on "the rich".

[international american]

"And this mean, of course, that in order to make up lost revenue they'll have raise the cost of a TV licences on "the rich"."

Yeah, anybody keeping their head above water without gubmint help will take it in the rear:)

[Drango]

People aged over 75 already get the licence free while the registered blind pay half.

Charging half for blind people is rather Macavalian.

[Don Corleone]

Sounds like "Hillary Care".

[eastforker]

Folks, how long will it be before we are faced with the same tax, just kidding.It is hard for me to imagine such a tax for having a TV.Any Britts out there who would like to comment? Would you like to have a Tea Party?

[goldstategop]

Its never occured to them to let advertising pay for TV? Even the poor in America have free TV.

[Buck W.]

TVs are taxed in the UK?

[Guillermo]

What if one doesn't own a television? Do they still have to pay this tax? What if they don't want to watch the BBC?

[Drango]

I already pay for PBS. I ain't paying any more....

[John Beresford Tipton]

The US is there already.
Look at your phone bill, there is a weird charge there to give internet access to poor people, schools etc.

[yankeedame]

TVs are taxed in the UK?

Oh, yeah, and so are things like garden hoses.

[auntdot]

They sure are. You need to pay a tele tax annually.

The proceeds go to support the BBC.

[Post Toasties]

Taxing the vast wasteland? Truly, socialism on the rampage.

[wretchard]

The practice a yearly registration fee on a television set to support the BBC amounts to a compulsory political donation to an established point of view. Even people who never watch the BBC, or event turn their TV sets on, must pay for it. In the bureaucrat's view, the discount accorded the blind and elderly is considered generosity. It is really a perfect illustration of the socialist inversion, in which limited freedoms are transformed into cherished privileges.

[flashbunny]

but it's a tax for owning the tv, not buying it.

[John Beresford Tipton]

"Charging half for blind people is rather Macavalian."

No, but charging them double, and hoping that they don't see the charge, now *THAT* is Machiavellian!

[Post Toasties]

What if you have a TV but you never listen to broadcast? They still make you pay?

[Post Toasties]

It would appear so.

[schmelvin]

Half-price TV licences for the poor:

Now, why should "compassion" for the poor end there? Shouldn't they be able to purchase Sony Playstations, designer clothes, and luxury cars for half price, too?

[auntdot]

Yes, but they probably will not catch you.