TV taxes are often a part subject to bring up with Germans. This past week....we had a tax court episode of sorts....to seriously affect the TV tax folks.
There had been a strong push about seven years ago....to include computers into this “media” tax situation. The TV tax folks at the time....thought this was a nifty way to grow the tax revenue bucket without stomping on too many folks.
The case that came up involved a professional translator....who had declared the computer at home with her TV and radios....and had been paying the legal amount of taxes on those. Somewhere in the process of things....as a translator....she had added a second computer (I will assume a laptop)....to carry back and forth. The TV tax folks came acalling to her house and asked to do an inspection. She didn’t think much about it and allowed them in. They counted, and then recounted.....and came to say that the second computer was not being calculated and they wanted taxes on it.
The court viewed the whole episode.....and said that the work computer was a totally different issue and not part of the taxation episode. So she is off the hook....at least until they can convince the government guys to change the rules yet again.
My advice for anyone visited by the plain clothed TV tax folks.....smile and refuse entry. To enter....they have to show court order or be invited in. To gain a court order....they have to present evidence that seems to prove that you are violating the rules. Frankly, most judges won’t agree to such a court order without massive proof.
It all simply adds onto the hostile nature of folks now over state-run TV. The costs escalate each and every year. There are still competitive folks in the state-run TV system....buying and pumping up prices for shows or sports projects. The salary level is way beyond reason.....and their long-term projects all seem to show growth. We now have one channel designed and built for the 15-30 year old crowd....that barely gets 200,000 viewers on average a week (out of 80 million). So the state-run TV guys are buying up shows to run on this network and paying an entire staff.....with few if any folks watching.
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