As far as the ISO is concerned, IT business is just one of many businesses for which they manage the standards process. ISO has to pay the bills somehow, don’t

As far as the ISO is concerned, IT business is just one of many businesses for which they manage the standards process. ISO has to pay the bills somehow, don’t they? If they would not charge the users of the standards the bill would go to governments (effectively taxpayers). As far as taxpayers are concerned, if the industry needs standards, they should pay for them themselves. There is merit to the argument that free standards stimulate innovation, but if governments subsidize the industry, they will prefer to subsidize their national industry, not world wide.