Sunday, December 13, 2009

The TV Tax

There is a debate underway in Germany....over TV taxes. For those who are curious....an average house now pumps in around $400 per year....for their media tax.

The guys who run the state-run operation....kinda need more money. So you can see where this debate is going.

The folks on one side....have spoken up and say that we should now include laptops, internet devices, and cellphones.....in the method where we count and add up the tax. The neat thing about this method is that any house with four folks (two adults and two kids over ten)....has four cellphones typically. The growth of laptops and PC's in homes? Well...that adds up too....because in the same house with the four folks....they likely have two PC's/laptops as a minimum.

Naturally.....the opposition is upset about this because it allows the government to ASK and get data....to assemble the fee. Why would anyone tell the truth? Everyone would admit one cellphone and one CPU....just to look legal.

Then you have the crowd who are fixated back on the state-run networks.....asking why we need so many channels across the whole country. They also are asking why so many state-run radio channels still exist and if half couldn't go commercial. Even others are asking questions now about the salary level of the folks who manage the state-run networks.

The curious about this entire mess is that there is no citizen committee to stand over the state-run TV folks....and ask stupid questions. The TV management folks come up to the national level....lay out their costs...and then ask for a 3 percent or 5 percent plus-up. And the political figures have some fear in denying them.....because they might turn the investigative reporters loose on them. It's like a friendly mafia operation running your local grocery....and you simply have to accept it.

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