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The UK government/BBC is happy to give £91m/year to Crapita to administer the TV License [0], and there are a bunch of other contractors [1]. Almost 100 million

The UK government/BBC is happy to give £91m/year to Crapita to administer the TV License [0], and there are a bunch of other contractors [1]. Almost 100 million pounds wasted that could be spent on programming, but instead go to private businesses. Instead, the UK government could just directly fund the BBC out of taxes. Even if it might require a small increase of the tax rate, they could save on the enforcement and tracking. [0] https://www.capita.com/news/capita-announces-five-year-extension-tv-licensing-contract https://www.capita.com/news/capita-announces-five-year-exten... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_United_Kingdom#TV_Licensing_contractors_and_subcontractors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_Un...

bigiain 2y ago
> Almost 100 million pounds wasted that could be spent on programming That's kinda assuming that everybody would continue to pay the license fee if the enforcement was stopped. I have no clue how much revenue the TV licenses generate, or whether 100 million for administration and enforcement is a reasonable number. It feels unlikely to me? Google google google: In 2021, there were 24.8 million households in England The TV licence fee is currently £159 a year So there'd be 4,000 million or so in revenue if every household paid for the license (more including the rest of the UK). I _guess_ maybe 2.5% isn't a unreasoable number for administration and enforcementment? It's better that, say, Apple taking 30%...
- zerocrates 2y ago
  They're saying it would be cheaper to just have the government, which already has a whole apparatus for calculating, collecting, and enforcing tax, fund the BBC directly. So there would be no TV license.
  - Scoundreller 2y ago
    removing red tape is for business, not consumers! My jurisdiction finally got rid of annual/biannual car registration fees and stickers. Was a rather pointless process other than collecting money. Was hoping they'd raise gas taxes by 0.1cents/litre or something, but I guess they buried it in with other taxes. Unfortunately, we still require driver's license renewals every 5 years for CAD$90. And they don't bother taking a picture with every renewal because that was too much bureaucracy for them. I think it's only once I'm 80 they'll haul me in for a cognitive test.

bigiain 2y ago

> Almost 100 million pounds wasted that could be spent on programming That's kinda assuming that everybody would continue to pay the license fee if the enforcement was stopped. I have no clue how much revenue the TV licenses generate, or whether 100 million for administration and enforcement is a reasonable number. It feels unlikely to me? Google google google: In 2021, there were 24.8 million households in England The TV licence fee is currently £159 a year So there'd be 4,000 million or so in revenue if every household paid for the license (more including the rest of the UK). I _guess_ maybe 2.5% isn't a unreasoable number for administration and enforcementment? It's better that, say, Apple taking 30%...

zerocrates 2y ago
They're saying it would be cheaper to just have the government, which already has a whole apparatus for calculating, collecting, and enforcing tax, fund the BBC directly. So there would be no TV license.
- Scoundreller 2y ago
  removing red tape is for business, not consumers! My jurisdiction finally got rid of annual/biannual car registration fees and stickers. Was a rather pointless process other than collecting money. Was hoping they'd raise gas taxes by 0.1cents/litre or something, but I guess they buried it in with other taxes. Unfortunately, we still require driver's license renewals every 5 years for CAD$90. And they don't bother taking a picture with every renewal because that was too much bureaucracy for them. I think it's only once I'm 80 they'll haul me in for a cognitive test.