# In Britain, every home with a TV set must pay $US248.63 per year. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 24, 2006, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-britain-every-home-with-a-tv-set-must-pay-us248-63-per-year/369978 "2006-08-24T01:31:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2006, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-britain-every-home-with-a-tv-set-must-pay-us248-63-per-year/369978/161 "2006-08-26T23:49:42Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Am I essentially correct here? [/QUOTE] Largely, except for the “government controlled” assertion. Mandated it may be, but it’s totally independent of government control. While it has a brief to be a public service and educator, where the news is concerned, it is a proper “fourth estate” - a check and balance. While other media may pander to government/corporate interests, the BBC is vehemently and viciously [independent](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3023922.stm), and always highly skeptical of any government in charge - sometimes to its [detriment](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3099378.stm). ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-britain-every-home-with-a-tv-set-must-pay-us248-63-per-year/369978/162 "2006-08-27T00:13:14Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Agreed, but the broadcasting of the digital signal is funded by the license fee (to the best of my understanding). [/QUOTE] The BBC has picked up the responsibilty for the digital changeover. I think that was the reason for allowing the current sequence of licence fee increases. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-britain-every-home-with-a-tv-set-must-pay-us248-63-per-year/369978/163 "2006-08-27T00:28:29Z")
[QUOTE=Arch Trout] Council Tax is what we in Britain pay to our local councils for the services they provide, rubbish uplifts, street lighting, parks, libraries etc [/quote] Not to mention social services, education (ahem), emergency planning… > [@](#): > > In Scotland our water rates are included in this bill but I think elsewhere in the UK this isn’t the case. Yep, I’m on a meter. It’s great, I only pay for what I use. And when I flush the toilet, I can watch the dials spin 😃 [QUOTE=silenus] Am I essentially correct here? [/QUOTE] Completely incorrect. See previous posts, about the BBC being something which cannot be recreated through commercial broadcast, and the lack of understanding of the concept of non-commercial television. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-britain-every-home-with-a-tv-set-must-pay-us248-63-per-year/369978/164 "2006-08-27T03:48:57Z")
[QUOTE=nemminie] We have to pay £131.50 this year. It increases each year. And believe me, it is enforced. If you don’t pay, your possessions can be seized and sold. Family homes pay one license fee of £131.50 this year however many TVs they have. House/flat sharers must pay the same fee individually. So if 4 friends are sharing a residence, 4 license fees must be paid. There are rules for residential homes, second homes, and so on. If you are not from the UK - what do you think about this? Do you think it is a weird tax, or justified for public service, plain wrong, what? > **[Television licensing in the United Kingdom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_United_Kingdom)** > > In the United Kingdom and the rest of the British Islands, any household watching or recording television transmissions at the same time they are being broadcast is required to hold a television licence. This applies regardless of transmission method, including terrestrial, satellite, cable, and internet streaming. It is also required for the viewing of on demand content on BBC iPlayer. The television licence is the instrument used to raise revenue to fund the BBC and S4C. Businesses, hospitals... [/QUOTE] To be quite honest, you Europeans put up with far more taxes with far flimsier rationales than we do here in America. This is perhaps the most egregious. Yes, it’s plain wrong. IMHO, of course. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-britain-every-home-with-a-tv-set-must-pay-us248-63-per-year/369978/165 "2006-08-27T06:38:05Z")
[QUOTE=JohnT] To be quite honest, you Europeans put up with far more taxes with far flimsier rationales than we do here in America. [/QUOTE] To be honest, this is a condescending, rather insulting, and possibly ignorant comment. Some of us are actually capable of voting for parties who will increase taxes, you know. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-britain-every-home-with-a-tv-set-must-pay-us248-63-per-year/369978/166 "2006-08-27T07:03:09Z")
Yeah, I know. My apologies. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-britain-every-home-with-a-tv-set-must-pay-us248-63-per-year/369978/167 "2006-08-27T12:56:43Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] To be honest, this is a condescending, rather insulting, and possibly ignorant comment. Some of us are actually capable of voting for parties who will increase taxes, you know. [/QUOTE] I wish I could vote for a party willing to increase taxes, because IMO we sorely need to do so, given the budget deficit and the public debt, the lack of funding for essential services (justice, for instance) , the deficit of the healthcare system, and so on. However, we must be in a minority, because there’s no party advocating higher taxes to be found. Maybe you have one in the UK, but somehow, I doubt it… ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-britain-every-home-with-a-tv-set-must-pay-us248-63-per-year/369978/168 "2006-08-27T14:04:34Z")
[QUOTE=clairobscur] Maybe you have one in the UK, but somehow, I doubt it… [/QUOTE] The Liberal Democrates in the UK have specifically said they would raise some taxes during previous campaigns. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-britain-every-home-with-a-tv-set-must-pay-us248-63-per-year/369978/169 "2006-08-27T15:22:56Z")
The BBC also have a rather large research department. Without the license fee there would be no NICAM stereo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-britain-every-home-with-a-tv-set-must-pay-us248-63-per-year/369978.md?page=8)