More opposition to TV’s ‘UK tax’
Monday 1st February 2010, 2:29PM GMT.
A ROW about whether islanders should pay for a TV licence has stepped up a notch.
Housing minister Dave Jones (pictured) has questioned why islanders should have to pay what appears to be a UK levy.
‘It’s simply untenable that Guernsey should be paying a tax to the UK,’ he said.
Islander George Elkington, 59, last week challenged TV Licensing to prosecute him in court after using the UK’s Freedom of Information Act to confirm that the licence fee was reclassified as a tax in 2006.
He claims that a ruling by the European Court of Justice, which states that no citizen of one state should be responsible for the public services of another, should provide him with an adequate defence.
Mr Elkington has watched TV for eight years without a licence as he pursued his campaign through the letters page of the Guernsey Press and elsewhere.
Deputy Jones said that as a member of government, it was not for him to encourage islanders to break the law but it was an issue that needed to be looked at. He asked the Law Officers to look into it several years ago but nothing came of it.
‘We need to get this issue clarified once and for all. With Sky and Freeview, it really calls into question whether it is morally right that people should be forced to pay a tax to watch TV.’
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Personally I don’t mind paying the TV licence. I see as a fair price to pay for the superb quality of programming that the BBC produces.
Are those that are calling for TV licence to be abolished, here in Guernsey, happy to do without BBC broadcasts in the island, not to mention the removal of access to BBC iPlayer?
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Was it not UK license payers who many years ago paid for the expensive installation of a link via Alderney and Jersey to for the colour service? Perhaps we are still paying for the upkeep and running of it. Don’t think of it as a tax, just a contribution towards the running costs of a service you are using.
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Yay! Let’s be forced to pay Murdoch £40 a month!
That’s the spirit!
Sounds like a proper bandwagon to jump on!
Sign me up!
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I dont want the BBC at all I have Sky plus tons of free channels,and Radio Caroline
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I quite agree with the first two posts on here. To call it a tax is misleading (although factually correct). The licence is a subscription that pays for the whole of the BBC, and all of it’s productions. I willingly pay, and happily watch and listen to BBC channels and stations.
I personally think those who don’t want to pay simply want something for nothing, and are rather ‘cheap’ for it.
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I would have no opposition to paying the TV license, on the condition that it is re-classified from a UK tax, and on the basis of attaining the full services as UK mainland payers. I believe that when freeview comes, we shall have no more than 16 channels, that is a joke in comparison to all the channels I receive in the UK, you may scoff and say I don’t watch more than 16 and that is enough, I do, and besides that’s not the point.
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…..and then I thought albeit for a few seconds that Deputy Jones had in recent time had some good ideas for the Island, and then he decided to talk about this, shame
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Never mind the TV license in Guernsey, who exactly is paying for George Elkington’s Freedom of Information Act requests in the UK?
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Don
What you the nominal admin fee of 10 or 15 pounds?
In many cases it is completely free & online. For the benefit of all who wish to know their rights.
Not something that we enjoy locally!
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Paul:
Considering what you get for your ‘nominal’ £10 or £15, paying the TV licence fee is considerably cheaper than a Freedom of Information Act information release!
And, whilst you’re right that individuals requesting FOA releases only pay a nominal fee, the set up and running of the infrastructures required to assess and release information to the individual has cost the UK tax payer millions throughout big Government, and George I’ll wager hasn’t put a penny into the UK tax pot towards it. Seems that George’s free-loading has no boundaries.
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I very much look forward to the day that the BBC cuts off the signal to the island, closes down their local radio station and web page and then listen to the complaints that come pouring in!
If you don’t want to pay it fine – but don’t start whinging when it is taken away from you.
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Whether it is called a tax or not a tax, the BBC is funded by the TV licence fee, hence there are no adverts on it – that includes the radio services etc etc. As far as I know, Guernsey has enjoyed all the services of the BBC, so why should residents not contribute to funding the service. I have Sky and always come back to watching the BBC, or re-runs of BBC programmes, so I think the BBC is excellent value for money. I do not want to pay for the rubbish progammes and relentless advertising that I have to suffer on Sky, but I need it for the picture quality. Roll on digital TV, and the Sky dish can go back.
And by the way, I don’t get value for money from Dave Jones, or many other members of the States for that matter, so I don’t want to pay for them. Can I get my money back please?
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The BBC is fantastic – suberb quality programs and no bloody adverts. Worth every penny.
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Often a TV reception without a satellite dish is abysmal, particularly here in Alderney. Coupled with the high number of repeats a License really should be a thing of the past. Obviously,revenue would need to be collected,and that would be by advertising.Static screen corner advertising would be far more acceptable than programme interruptions.The license is by far the most expensive I know,particularly for the service provided.
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Frankly those feckless UK politicians can completely cut us out of their idiotic hypocritical system.
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Ian ,you dont need to pay SKY to use a dish,only to get certain of the channels.There are hundreds of channels you can get using a dish without paying Sky.Unfortunately you have to have a licence,you dont get a choice there.
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As a Guernsey resident, I had not been able to receive a tv signal until the advent of Sky, Prior to that I had the priviledge of watching snow even in summer, on my tv screen. even now I have no usable terrestrial signal, so I have no choice but to pay both Sky and Tv licence fees,
If its a tax, then it should be going to our own black hole and not the U/Ks.
As for local content, try watching the BBC news for our region at the weekend. Keep taking the tax but earmark it for use supporting local media coverage.
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It is a tax BUT the money goes straight to the BBC and not via the government. Also the Channel Island Governments have an agreement with the BBC/OfCom for the BBC to broadcast in the islands and collect the licence fee.
If the islanders stopped paying the fee you could say goodbye to BBC One, BBC Two etc as well as all the national radio stations.
Oh and @alan – you can get Freesat – no need to pay a subscription to Sky and as you already have a dish you won’t need to pay to install that – just connect a Freesat box to your dish and you’ll get all the same channels as freeview without a subscription.
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I was speaking to my brother about this, and he was in support getting rid of the :”tax” until i told him he would never be able to watch any BBC football matches ever again!
The only thing I would like to see the BBC do is a full 30 minute news slot for Guernsey/Jersey as the south west news is little use to us.
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