Revenue to collect TV licence fee?

Dr Crayfish

So it looks like an Oireachtas Committee has urged the Government to hand over the reins of the TV licence collection to Revenue. So I'd imagine much like property tax it will just start to be deducted from your wages - everyone's wages that is, regardless of whether you have a TV or not, they want to include phones etc. in the licence as you may be streaming Fair City on the bus or whatever.
RTE is in the pits at the moment anyway, and would anyone really miss Ryan Tubridy or the Ray Darcy show? How come TV3 manage to survive independently?
They want more money to overpay their already saturated workforce. No doubt we'll just bend over and take this, much like the Minimum Unit Pricing for alcohol.

Should we really be forking out more so the RTE luvvies can get a pay rise every year? I'd say we could all refuse to pay it in protest, much like the Irish Water protest, but if it's given to revenue I would imagine they'll just dock our wages. Not sure how they'll charge people on Welfare though, or as usual just squeeze the middle...

Personally I don't watch any of the Irish TV channels, it's usually just repeats of British or American shows anyway.

Jim Bob Scratcher

They can fook right off!

Ubbquittious

Yes they'll get the revenue hounds out to make the plebs all sh1t their pants and pay up like with the property tax. The making it mandatory even if you have no TV will come soon after

FG are not people, they're pigs.

Dr Crayfish

I only noticed today property tax was being docked from my wages because I, er, forgot to pay it. Next up will be TV fee being docked. How many bloody docks will we have by the time these clowns are out of Government?

silverharp

if ever there was an out of date tax its this luvvie pay up or you go to prison one. there only needs to be 1 national station and throw the sports etc. onto private channels, and the 1 channel should be TG4 minus their westerns

murpho999

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Yes they'll get the revenue hounds out to make the plebs all sh1t their pants and pay up like with the property tax. The making it mandatory even if you have no TV will come soon after

FG are not people, they're pigs.

So the rest of the licence fee payer should fund it?

That's fair.

It's completely normal to have a TV licence, look around the world so it's correct to enforce collection of it.

Tazio

If they push this thought then the tax money is to fund the broadcasting infrastructure NOT the channels and associated salaries.

Tax should not be used to transmit corporate advertisements into homes.

If this new tax is used to finance the transmission / distribution system then it could he used to facilitate national wireless broadband.

Dr Crayfish

murpho999 wrote: »

So the rest of the licence fee payer should fund it?

That's fair.

It's completely normal to have a TV licence, look around the world so it's correct to enforce collection of it.

Live from Montrose

Mr. Incognito

The TV Licence was instead of Ads.

Now Ads are plastered on it every five minutes.

They can fcuk right off. RTE could fall into the sea and it wouldnt be missed except by the vastly inflated no talent egos that are stealing a living from the taxpayer.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I don't think the licence fee reflects the poor value we get for it but the amount, at the same time, is not out of line with many countries (with larger populations). Here it's €160; UK €165; Austria and Denmark are €335!

I personally couldn't care less what organ of the state collects it. If it's due it's due. At least Revenue might collect the €40 not paid each year at present.

GBX

murpho999 wrote: »

So the rest of the licence fee payer should fund it?

That's fair.

It's completely normal to have a TV licence, look around the world so it's correct to enforce collection of it.

It might be normal to collect a fee for a license if you have a TV. For those that want to watch tv.
Then there are those who don't or have no interest in having one or either. So deduct from their wages is normal and fair?

Ubbquittious

murpho999 wrote: »

So the rest of the licence fee payer should fund it?

That's fair.

It's completely normal to have a TV licence, look around the world so it's correct to enforce collection of it.

They should sink RTE into the ground and rebuild a much lower-budget one, get rid of the imported/American shows and focus on home-grown programming. Too many people in RTE soaking up huge wages to fund their D4 lifestyles

c_man

They should let Revenue determine RTE salaries.

ceegee

Ubbquittious wrote: »

They should sink RTE into the ground and rebuild a much lower-budget one, get rid of the imported/American shows and focus on home-grown programming. Too many people in RTE soaking up huge wages to fund their D4 lifestyles

How much does it cost to produce a TV show compared to paying for re-runs of imported shows? All they'd be able to afford would be even longer chat shows of Rte people interviewing each other.

Cantona's Collars

Wasn't the license introduced before we even had TV in the country. I'd say I might watch 30 minutes at most a week of RTE programming and that's being generous. The missus gets the stamps every week in the post office and that's how we pay,if we paid on content watched by my reckoning it should be about a tenner per year.
Why don't they simply add it onto the electrical bills of people. That way everyone pays,no fecking around with Revenue and threats to people.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Ted Plain

I think that wages should be paid directly to Revenue and then they can decide how much we deserve to get, based on a merit system.

That way we could avoid all sorts of unpleasantness and eliminate all the TV spongers that steal from RTE.

Kivaro

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

So it looks like an Oireachtas Committee has urged the Government to hand over the reins of the TV licence collection to Revenue.

As I mentioned in another thread:
And we should find a way to thank them on election day. Sending them an appreciative email (click on name) may help them gauge our views on the matter:

Deputies: Timmy Dooley Fianna Fáil James Lawless Fianna Fáil Michael Lowry Rural Independent Group Hildegarde Naughton Fine Gael Eamon Ryan Social Democrats - Green Party Group Bríd Smith Solidarity - People Before Profit Brian Stanley Sinn Féin Senators: Terry Leyden Fianna Fáil Tim Lombard Fine Gael Michael McDowell Independent Group Joe O'Reilly Fine Gael

So our future holds an ever increasing television license fee for the remainder of our lives (or until we reach 75), which will lead to ever increasing insane salaries for the untalented deluded staff. This quango needs to go or made survive like the rest of us ........... on their own merits.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Hungrycol

Doubt the Revenue will do it. They tried to land the Water charges with the Revenue and the Revenue told them to get stuffed.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Mr.Micro

I am opposed to a licence fee of any sort. RTE should fund itself by subscription and advertising and other means. It is ridiculous to have to pay a tv licence when there are hundreds of other sources of entertainment online or sky or whoever. A nice cosy little set up to keep the Donnybrook set with little or no talent in big jobs and put out the most dreadful rubbish.

pawrick

I get the logic behind a licence fee however I think RTE should be broken up with the commercial side spun off as a stand alone entity to sink or swim, frankly I see no loss in losing much of what they provide on the "entertainment" side.

Grayson

Cantona's Collars wrote: »

Wasn't the license introduced before we even had TV in the country. I'd say I might watch 30 minutes at most a week of RTE programming and that's being generous. The missus gets the stamps every week in the post office and that's how we pay,if we paid on content watched by my reckoning it should be about a tenner per year.
Why don't they simply add it onto the electrical bills of people. That way everyone pays,no fecking around with Revenue and threats to people.

I don't even watch that much. I haven't got a TV tuned in to anything. I stream netflix and youtube on my xBox and that's it.
I don't own a radio. I don't have a car so i don't even have a radio there.
I have an Irish Times subscription for Irish news.

If they firewalled the website and only let licence fee holders through with a password I'll be happy with that.

Doltanian

I believe the Revenue commissioners should be abolished and the vast majority of public services abolished and the vast majority of taxes scrapped also. Fire at least 250,000k public and civil servants out of the system.

SPDUB

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

The TV Licence was instead of Ads.

No it was not and that's only been the case in one country namely the UK

Cantona's Collars wrote: »

Wasn't the license introduced before we even had TV in the country.

Yes , IIRC the separate Telly Licence started in 1959 , 2 years before the TV service began .

DavidLyons_

RTE should be a subscription service. Let those who wish to avail of the service pay to do so and not expect the rest of us - who wouldn't tune in to the scutter they produce - to contribute.

There isn't any part of RTE's shambolic services that I require and neither am I interested in the utter sh1t they produce or the cnuts they employ.

SEPT 23 1989

The Montrose Holiday Camp should be sold off completely and the inmates relocated to a state of the art warehouse in West Dublin

satguy

RTE should just be a news channel, " RTE 24 Hour News " no ads.

Licence fee €52 PA or €1 PW , everyone pays.

gctest50

Three.ie and others have an 'adult filter'

It works


if they can do that, they can do an RTE.ie filter

want to look at RTE.is on your phone/iPad whatever ?

pay €100 to remove RTE.ie filter

Borderfox

Caught a guy around the apartment block where I live peeping in my friends window, rang the gardai and told them a burglary was in progress. Didn't see him again after he explained to the Gardaí what he was doing.

Tin Foil Hat

This isn't what The Revenue is for. It's not going to fly.

_Dara_

I can’t believe they are considering raising the price again. It already represents poor value for money. I reckon everyone should just refuse to pay it. It shouldn’t be a thing in the first place.

Also, surely the onus is on them to prove that people have a broadcasting device? Docking the fee from people’s pay is making an assumption.

somesoldiers

Anyone care to hazard a guess at how many days holidays Joe Duffy has had in 217 from his 75 minute daily RTE radio show?

Dear Arthur,
Imagine the cheek of our elected representatives expecting the electorate to pay their way. Outraged, I am. Who’s head should we clamor for?
Outraged listener, Clonmel.

mikeysmith

will it be metered or fixed charge?

Captain Obvious

Don't really have an issue with paying a licence fee. Have an issue with the amount of it that's wasted.

JP Liz V1

c_man wrote: »

They should let Revenue determine RTE salaries.

They are not even worth minmium wage

RTE has gone as bad as TV3 for repeats

K.Flyer

Grayson wrote: »

...
If they firewalled the website and only let licence fee holders through with a password I'll be happy with that.

If they went down the road of subscription only, (licence holders only) I believe that Montrose would be gone in a year, two at the most, such would be the true level of interest from people that would voluntarily pay for content access.

lmimmfn

Does this mean the tv license take will be shared equally between TV3 and RTE and to a lesser extent all the radio stations?

Ulysses Gaze

I have no TV and will not pay a license fee so that Tubridy and Duffy can enjoy Six Figure Salaries.

dan1895

I heard recently that RTE want to charge the likes of Sky and Virgin for use of their content who will then pass that expence onto their customers so everyone gets to pay for RTE twice!!

Ulysses Gaze

K.Flyer wrote: »

If they went down the road of subscription only, (licence holders only) I believe that Montrose would be gone in a year, two at the most, such would be the true level of interest from people that would voluntarily pay for content access.

Hence why it will never happen.

salmocab

As I said in the other thread about RTE I have no real issue with paying for public service broadcasting but it should represent value for money, RTE does not. 2FM is a waste it just serves the same market as today FM and other smaller local outfits. The amount of programming original content on the TV is small and could easily be kept on one station. It doesnt need 2 TV stations and numerous radio stations to meet its public service obligations. We dont need it as much anymore because of the availability of other mediums.

K.Flyer

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

Hence why it will never happen.

More's the pity

The idea of imposing a licence fee on every household, based on the Notion that you may have a device that may receive a tv broadcast, just sounds unconstitutional to me.

Tin Foil Hat

dan1895 wrote: »

I heard recently that RTE want to charge the likes of Sky and Virgin for use of their content who will then pass that expence onto their customers so everyone gets to pay for RTE twice!!

Sky and Virgin will tell them to fukk off.

elperello

This guy wants to double it.



"Are we in Ireland serious about being Irish? If so, we need to double the television licence fee. Yes: double it. Much has been written and debated around television licence fees over many years, but very few have called for what is actually needed."


https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/double-the-tv-licence-fee-or-say-goodbye-to-irish-programming-1.3305879

joejobrien

I find it rather strange the views on both sides of the debate. However I think only 1 person eluded to it and it is my held belief too. RTE or any other broadcasting entity should be run on a COMMERICAL basis only . We have examples currently. Majority of business run on a commerical basis and are never afforded the luxury of state funding, WHY SHOULD RTE RECIEVE...........oh I forgot semi state!!!!

the_pen_turner

I wouldn't mind a tax that is ring-fenced for national interest broadcasting and cultural stuff. use that money to fund the programming on all channels evenly and fairly. leave the other stuff to the commercial side of their businesses.

I don't want to fund a RTE tax. let it fail. nobody would care.

elperello

Absolutely ludicrous idea.

Effectively they are saying -

"We have a problem with people accessing TV content on mobile devices ie. phones, tablets, laptops so we are introducing a property based tax.

the_pen_turner

how many people don't pay. what is the total 'lost' income.
how does that relate to the salaries of the top 'talent'. who could we loose to not have to pay