Attitudes toward household charge vs. TV licence

Permabear · 03-04-2012 02:19PM #1

This post has been deleted.

03-04-2012 02:28PM

one is new and the other isn't
watch this space when the broadcasting charge is brought in

matthew8 · 03-04-2012 02:29PM

RTE. If there was a campaign to stop paying the tv license, RTE would give it no coverage.

Sudsy86 · 03-04-2012 02:33PM

TV Licence: Ths has been arround for quite a long time, ppl watch their TV and know exactly where their money is going towards...Payment options are available across all payment methods(except DD if i'm not mistaken)...Goes towards a method to unwind after a hard days work...

Household charge: New tax(no1 likes new taxes). badly implemented in a time of recession, no visable transparancy as to where the money is going...Payment methods out of reach to most(elderly with no need for internet etc etc.)...Cannot be used as a method to wind down after a hard day of work...

Just my opinion!!!!!!

usernamegoes · 03-04-2012 02:33PM

TV licence is also seen as being more linked to a service, also you don't need a licence. I didn't have one when I had no TV.

Inspector called and didn't believe me, I told him that was his problem.

KyussBishop · 03-04-2012 02:36PM

You can ditch your TV's quite easily now and watch stuff online or satellite I think (the license is only for the tuner inside the TV); can't ditch your house though.

Personally, I think people should ditch their TV's + licenses (a matter of time now with the way things are going on the internet); what value does RTE provide these days?

Tin Foil Hat · 03-04-2012 02:38PM

We had a once off opportunity to stand up to the household charge in unison. Everyone was required to register by the same day.
The TV license is a completely different story. You get a renewal once a year with your name on it. If you choose not to pay you stand alone and will eventually see the inside of a courtroom if you ignore the repeated reminders.
It took them ten years to find me and put me on the TV licence database, but now that they have me, there is no mass protest I can join.
But it would be a mistake to think that there isn't huge resentment of the TV tax.

usernamegoes · 03-04-2012 02:46PM

Tin Foil Hat wrote: »

We had a once off opportunity to stand up to the household charge in unison. Everyone was required to register by the same day.
The TV license is a completely different story. You get a renewal once a year with your name on it. If you choose not to pay you stand alone and will eventually see the inside of a courtroom if you ignore the repeated reminders.
It took them ten years to find me and put me on the TV licence database, but now that they have me, there is no mass protest I can join.
But it would be a mistake to think that there isn't huge resentment of the TV tax.

Then sent me a bill for it and I sent it back and said I had no TV, which I didn't.

I hate the TV licence, if they really think it is for public service broadcasts then let it be and get rid of RTE 2 and use RTE 1 for non commercial public service so I don't have to pay for US tv show to be on RTE 2 a week before C4 shows them for free!

Tin Foil Hat · 03-04-2012 02:50PM

usernamegoes wrote: »

Then sent me a bill for it and I sent it back and said I had no TV, which I didn't.

I hate the TV licence, if they really think it is for public service broadcasts then let it be and get rid of RTE 2 and use RTE 1 for non commercial public service so I don't have to pay for US tv show to be on RTE 2 a week before C4 shows them for free!

I'm not a fan myself. It makes me puke to have €160 extorted from me for a crappy, biased service that I naver asked for.

Sudsy86 · 03-04-2012 03:11PM

Also once they have your name you get an invoice, no invoice was sent for the household charge...

mikom · 03-04-2012 03:17PM

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Speak for yourself.

charlemont · 03-04-2012 03:19PM

I'v never paid for a TV license and I have no intention of either, Got a warning to say I was going to court for non payment several years ago so I throw it in the bin and never saw a summons.

later12 · 03-04-2012 03:49PM

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

I think one obvious reason is that the tv license is unlikely to increase to level of previously observed rates. If one were as satisfied that rates would not increase significantly over time, there would likely be less resistance. My parents would be reasonably ok with paying a €100 or €200 charge, but certainly not go back to the levels of rates charged in the 1980s, or even up as far as 1997 for some domestic rural dwellers.

Maybe you could answer yourself; presumably you did not pay the household charge, but you pay the television license?

RichieC · 03-04-2012 03:54PM

People already paid stamp duty buying their homes and see this as double taxing.

BlaasForRafa · 03-04-2012 04:02PM

Lots of different opinions on this one, a lot of them valid.

One I'd like to add is that it was seen as a sort of referendum on the governments performance so far. I was pretty ok with ponying up originally as a property tax is a logical idea but when it came out that the government had not even asked for a debt write-down from the Troika that really changed my mind. One might expect Europe to play hardball over a write down but to not even ask then about it is almost an act of betrayal to the nation.

And this whole deferring of payment of 3.1 billion till 2024 and converting the promissory note to sovereign debt is kicking the can down the road and piling up more debt for the future on the country. If the government is going to do things like this then paying them even more money seems a bit pointless.

beeftotheheels · 03-04-2012 04:03PM

RichieC wrote: »

People already paid stamp duty buying their homes and see this as double taxing.

Double taxation is all around us and this is not, strictly speaking, double taxation.

Stamp Duty is actually not a tax on your house, it is a tax on the instrument transferring your house to you.

It is perfectly possible to have a house without having paid SD on the acquisition, through inheritance, through falling below the thresholds which previously existed etc etc.

This has nothing to do with double taxation. If the charge were forever levied by reference to the consideration which was stampable on the acquisition of the property then arguments that it is a double tax might hold water, But it is not. So they don't.

murphaph · 03-04-2012 04:54PM

RichieC wrote: »

People already paid stamp duty buying their homes and see this as double taxing.

People already paid VAT on their TV set so should see the TV licence as double taxation too!

The household charge is at least going for services we all use, regardless of how inneficiently they are provided (a serious matter of course). The TV licence however goes to a useless state broadcaster that few people actually watch.

K-9 · 03-04-2012 11:58PM

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

The TV Licence is an institutionalised tax at this stage, people are used to paying it.

Opposition to the Household tax comes in every shape and form, I don't think logic enter that much into it tbh, generally vague rants or ideology or populism, though to me it stems from the attachment to the ould plot.

The TV licence is probably a bit dated here though, whatever about the BBC, TV3 and radio has shown that you can have commercially viable independents.

Cookie_Monster · 04-04-2012 04:47AM

RichieC wrote: »

People already paid stamp duty buying their homes and see this as double taxing.

no, it's not. Stamp duty is a transaction tax. The household charge is due on ownership, totally different.

MadsL · 04-04-2012 06:36AM

Sudsy86 wrote: »

TV Licence: Ths has been arround for quite a long time, ppl watch their TV and know exactly where their money is going towards...Payment options are available across all payment methods(except DD if i'm not mistaken)...

I'm afraid you are.

http://www.rte.ie/about/licence.html#question11

A TV licence can be purchased online at www.tvlicence.ie
- By phoning Lo-Call 1890 228 528 (24 hr service) and giving your Laser, MasterCard or Visa Card details.
- By direct debit from your bank current account. With direct debit you have the option of making an annual payment, bi-annual, quarterly or monthly payments.
- From any post office by cash, cheque or TV Savings Stamps or by Laser card at 1,000 post offices across the country. - By Post, cheques to:

Zombrex · 04-04-2012 08:58AM

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

I don't think logic has much to do with the opposition to the house hold charge.

antoobrien · 04-04-2012 09:10AM

K-9 wrote: »

The TV Licence

Pays for coverage of the All-Ireland Hurling. I'll pay it for that alone.

gizmo555 · 04-04-2012 12:28PM

RTE could afford to write off €1.5m in legal costs owed to it by class act Beverley Flynn - proof enough for me that they don't need my money . . .

Sideshow Mark · 04-04-2012 12:52PM

usernamegoes wrote: »

if they really think it is for public service broadcasts then let it be and get rid of RTE 2 and use RTE 1 for non commercial public service so I don't have to pay for US tv show to be on RTE 2 a week before C4 shows them for free!

Totally agree with this, made sense when there was no commercial sector in this country but now rte is bloated. Really needs to slim down to one tv station and 2fm also needs to be sold off.

Zombrex · 04-04-2012 12:53PM

gizmo555 wrote: »

RTE could afford to write off €1.5m in legal costs owed to it by class act Beverley Flynn - proof enough for me that they don't need my money . . .

I don't know why people always go on about that, just because you get awared €1.5 million in costs doesn't mean you will actually ever get it. The costs involved in trying to extracting that money out of Flynn (who didn't have it) would probably cost more than the money itself. Solicitors aren't free you know :P

Zombrex · 04-04-2012 12:58PM

Sideshow Mark wrote: »

Totally agree with this, made sense when there was no commercial sector in this country but now rte is bloated. Really needs to slim down to one tv station and 2fm also needs to be sold off.

Why? Extra stations do not cost that much to have and it allows them to show a broader range of programmings to cater to different demographics. Some people want to watch the Ireland game, others want to watch a gardening program. Some want to watch The Late Late Show, others Grey's Anatomy (for the life of me I don't know why). "Slimming down" the stations just means you provide programming for a narrower demographic at any particular time, which goes against the idea that it is a public broadcaster provide to the public in general.

K-9 · 04-04-2012 01:09PM

Zombrex wrote: »

Why? Extra stations do not cost that much to have and it allows them to show a broader range of programmings to cater to different demographics. Some people want to watch the Ireland game, others want to watch a gardening program. Some want to watch The Late Late Show, others Grey's Anatomy (for the life of me I don't know why). "Slimming down" the stations just means you provide programming for a narrower demographic at any particular time, which goes against the idea that it is a public broadcaster provide to the public in general.

I suppose they have to meet a balance between commercially successful shows that bring in ad revenue and serving minor interests, or else you end up with TV3 and endless talk shows or sensational crime shows!

Having said that TG4 can put them to shame sometimes for the quality of their output. RTE Sports output is generally very good.

As for slimming down stations, looking at the BBC, it generally is the lesser interest shows or times that get cut. Dumbing down makes money.

later12 · 04-04-2012 01:19PM

Sideshow Mark wrote: »

Totally agree with this, made sense when there was no commercial sector in this country but now rte is bloated. Really needs to slim down to one tv station and 2fm also needs to be sold off.

2FM has traditionally helped lower the cost to the taxpayer of funding RTE. Apart from a blip arising from the financial crash, it turns a profit. I'm not sure why it would make sense to get rid of it, you're just going to increase the cost to the exchequer, all else being equal.

gizmo555 · 04-04-2012 02:11PM

Zombrex wrote: »

I don't know why people always go on about that, just because you get awared €1.5 million in costs doesn't mean you will actually ever get it. The costs involved in trying to extracting that money out of Flynn (who didn't have it) would probably cost more than the money itself. Solicitors aren't free you know :P

RTE presumably would have known this at the time of the initial libel action and the subsequent appeal, but so far as I'm aware they never at any time exercised their right to apply to have Flynn lodge a security for costs, before they were actually incurred.

I know very well solicitors aren't for free - that's the whole point!

c_man · 04-04-2012 02:46PM

antoobrien wrote: »

Pays for coverage of the All-Ireland Hurling. I'll pay it for that alone.

Do you really think that nobody would pick up one of the biggest guaranteed annual viewerships in the country if we didn't fork over to RTE to show it to us?

antoobrien · 04-04-2012 03:41PM

c_man wrote: »

Do you really think that nobody would pick up one of the biggest guaranteed annual viewerships in the country if we didn't fork over to RTE to show it to us?

Do you really want watch tv3's piss poor coverage of last years minor match or pay for sky instead?

Attitudes toward household charge vs. TV licence

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