Monday, August 9, 2021

Column on Public TV Tax

 There is a column done this past weekend for Welt by Johannes Boie on the Constitutional Court episode with the TV-media tax this week, and it's an interesting discussion.

What Boie points out....even though the court came to the rescue of ARD/ZDF/Public Radio on this occasion, and allowed the 86-cent increase to go through....they've (more or less) set up a public confrontation to occur in the next couple of years, with various groups and citizens who are frustrated with the public TV and radio system.

In simple terms....something will occur, and some political party will make it their top issue in some campaign (possibly in 2025), and trigger a confrontation where public TV/radio cannot possibly win.

The next likely increase in the media tax?  If I were guessing....it's probably a one-Euro situation and likely coming up around 2025/2026, unless some massive reorganization takes place.

No one ever does any polling on the issue, so you can't state any assumptions about the gut feeling of German society.  My son (30 years old) will amusingly admit that he hasn't watched a minute of public TV in over twenty years, and might even to twenty-five years on public radio.  Most of the people he hangs out with.....same general feeling.  

Boie is correct in that this is a 'magnet' now for public attention, and just begging to become a hot political topic.   

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