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Sweden To Charge TV Tax For Anyone With A Computer or Tablet

arcticstartup.com

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Re: Sweden To Charge TV Tax For Anyone With A Computer or Tablet

#71

Post by joonix »

awestroke wrote: post #42
zacharyvoase wrote: post #11

You must pay for the right to receive electromagnetic waves which are passing through your body 24/7, whether you like it or not. Seems legit.

Swede here. The money goes towards radio and television that is free from political influence, and also free from ads. It is like a tax for something most people benefit greatly from. It has nothing to do with the medium it is broadcasted through.

So just take it out of general government revenues (raise them if necessary). Trying to tax only those who use the service (which is probably 99.9% of people) is ridiculous. It just creates more bureaucracy and is a waste of time for everyone involved.

Re: Sweden To Charge TV Tax For Anyone With A Computer or Tablet

#72

Post by joonix »

sgift wrote: post #55
noarchy wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's not a tax. It's a fee, required to pay by law to fund independent channels of opinion free from government and/or private funded influence. Distinction without a difference. Would I be wrong if I tried to argue that an income tax is not a tax, but rather, a fee required by law to fund public schools, bureaucrats, and roads?

A fee is appropriated, a tax is not. Your government can do what it wants with taxes (e.g. fund wars instead of building roads) but it cannot decide that the radio/television fee will be used for road building (without changing the law).

Every government appropriation is a change in the law. The government passes a bill every year that dictates how money will be divided amongst different agencies and departments. So, there is no way to appopriate tax dollars without a change in the law.

Re: Sweden To Charge TV Tax For Anyone With A Computer or Tablet

#73

Post by noarchy »

LatvjuAvs wrote: post #69
noarchy wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of that advertising still boils down to choice. I can refuse to purchase the goods that they're constantly peddling. The system is voluntary. Meanwhile, I cannot refuse the taxes/fees that the government decides to levy. In my own country (Canada), I am taxed for CBC whether I wish to watch/listen or not.

Essentially it boils down to "we as a government can't trust you, so we have to enforce these laws and you must comply or else you will face our enforcers". Sadly, choice of 3 men overwrites choice of 3 million. Trust is lacking, not only between governing body and sheep, but between sheep also, when sheep will start trusting each other, it will reflect on governing body.

>Essentially it boils down to "we as a government can't trust you, so we have to enforce these laws and you must comply or else you will face our enforcers".

That's really the essence of everything that the government does.

>Trust is lacking, not only between governing body and sheep, but between sheep also, when sheep will start trusting each other, it will reflect on governing body.

I think that people still tend to trust their governing body, though it obviously never trusts its own population. In countries with elections, the sacrament of voting is still observed by large numbers of people. But I think that apathy and pessimism is growing, but I see that as a good thing; you can see there is a concern, when governments begin to discuss or even enact mandatory voting laws. Then the sacrament becomes more than "duty", it becomes another act of coercion, like most of what government does.

Re: Sweden To Charge TV Tax For Anyone With A Computer or Tablet

#74

Post by chestnut-tree »

kristofferR wrote: post #29

Norwegian here, our National Broadcaster is planning to introduce the same here. Here's a story from today about it (in Norwegian): http://www.aftenposten.no/digital/Norge-vurderer-TV-lisens-p... I'm fine with a TV-license fee, but if they're going to charge it for everyone who owns either a tablet, cellphone, computer or TV (which is basically 99,9% of households) they might just abandon their massive fee bureacracy…

How do Norwegians feel about the cost of their licence fee? Are people generally happy with the quality of output and services provided by the publicly-funded broadcaster?

I'm in the UK, and the BBC licence fee is approx 175 euros. Germany, Norway, Sweden and Denmark all have more expensive license fees. Obviously, the UK has a much larger population than Norway, Sweden or Denmark so the BBC gets more revenue.

Generally speaking, there is broad support for the BBC license fee. Given the BBC's long history, many people in the UK see them as a cultural institution rather just a broadcaster - which may sound strange to people outside the UK. Of course there are plenty of people who dislike the BBC in the UK. And then there are lots of people who like the BBC but are irritated by many of its programmes or behaviour.

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