The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Green Paper setting out the BBC’s long-term future proposed a solution that could end the traditional fee. The paper suggested “either a compulsory levy on all households or even on ownership of PCs as well as TVs”. It said that technology might render it difficult to collect and enforce the fee.Note that it's only PCs that are to be targeted. I'm OK: I've got a Mac!
A libertarian returns to Scotland
"Freedom and Whisky gang thegither"
- Robert Burns
Thursday 3 March 2005
PC tax could replace TV fee
That's the headline on the home page of this morning's Times. So what's new I thought. The TV licence is already a compulsory tax that funds PC - political correctness. Then for a brief moment I thought that political correctness exponents themselves were to be taxed! A kind of Value Reduced Tax on Guardian readers maybe. But no, the government's thinking of taxing computers:
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Paul Lewis
I read your article and did not think too much more about it, until I talked to my brother yesterday.
He does not have a television, but the licensing authority don't believe him. Their most recent letter was to ask him if he had a 'media' card in his pc.
Technically, if you have a WinTV or such like in the PC, they could already legally charge you a television licence fee.
8 March 2005, 22:32:21 GMT
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Alastair Ross
'Downtown Gordie Brown' hasnt yet finished his stress test on Capitalism.Those of us who know Gordie's true nature know that there is more to come in the inevitable form of further redistribution. Like all doctrinaire Socialists he will fail to square the circle.English people will have the good sense to prevent Brown's succeeding Blair.
8 March 2005, 14:22:53 GMT
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Jurgen Befehlshaber
Phew scary stuff .....and not beyond the realms of possibility for this GovtJ just think tax the PC, reduce the number of users, fewer people able to access information that might be detrimental to the Govt ok diminishing return but less hassle on the hustings
6 March 2005, 11:24:51 GMT
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Andrew Duffin
Wasn't there an urban legend about a "modem tax" doing the rounds about twenty years ago? Let's hope this one dies as unlamented a death.
4 March 2005, 14:40:25 GMT
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Andrew Ian Dodge
You know this was coming...bet they are going to call it a "technology tax" or something. I wonder if you will have to have one for each computer or whether it will be a licence to have computers in the house. Any way its a pretty vile suggestion...
3 March 2005, 16:02:46 GMT
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dearieme
Why not fund the BBC by a tax on the Guardian?
3 March 2005, 14:39:50 GMT
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Andrew Duffin
I think your MAC would only be exempt in the same way that LPG-powered road vehicles are exempt from fuel duty - ie, until the numbers of them in use become large enough to make a noticeable difference to the tax revenues.
Fortunately the whole thing is a silly piece of kite-flying anyway.
3 March 2005, 12:20:41 GMT
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