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Several European countries have some form of compulsory license fee you need to pay to the government if you own a television. I've written about the Swedish implementation of this moronic idea: Every household with a TV or even a computer with a TV tuner card needs to pay $20 a month.
In Germany, it's worse. Own a TV or a radio and you need to pay a €16 monthly fee to subsidize ARD, the state broadcaster. According to Spiegel [German], It's about to get completely absurd, however: Because of people like our Marc in Berlin, who had been telling the pesky controllers who came to the door that he didn't have a radio because he listens via the web, starting in April 2005 the €16 monthly tax will apply to all German households with a computer connected to the internet, because — and I just love this logic — just as you can use a radio to listen to German public radio stations, you can now use your computer to listen to web audio streams of German public radio stations, which are oh-so-altruistically available online.
You'd think this was a hoax. But it isn't. Earth to ARD: Try selling web subscriptions like normal people. (Via Strang's Blog.)
i fought the system for a few years. then i decided paying the TV fee was a way to help subsidize the jobs of my journalist colleagues. but i think haim saban, the US media mogul who recently bought into the german TV world, has a point. if ARD and ZDF are subsidized by the taxpayers, why should they be allowed to also siphon off loads of advertizing money. the public channels are commercial free only after 8pm.
Posted by: Marc on October 10, 2004 03:11 PM
I successfully dodged the German communications tax for a full 15 months but because I have a home office, the local tax collector would always catch me at home. I swear, he would ring my doorbell 2-3 times a week every single week. He left me a red postcard with each visit. His name was Herr Schmidt. I couldnít believe this old guyís stamina. Maybe this is just my paranoia but I think he used to keep a watch out for me at the bakery across the street. He was a hungry cat and I was his mouse. It was kind of fun.
He finally got into my building one day and saw me at the door. I smirked because he knew I knew who he was and what he wanted. The key is not to let him into your flat because once you do, he has the right to search it. I donít actually own a TV and I *hate* German radio. The music is AWFUL (ours from the 80ís still) and theyíre always interrupting for the ìStau Shauî (traffic report) and saying stupid things over and over again, ìWas gieht ab?î (what goes up?).
Argh!!! I couldíve continued the game by pretending I was only the domestic helper or that I didnít understand his German or claim that I had neither a radio in my flat or in my car but I had to concede. He won. I decided to quit being a tax evader and started paying him my requisite 5 Euro a month. Besides, he deserved it! Donít you think?
Yes, only it's only 5 Euro/mo in Baden-W¸rttemberg. Having a clock radio counts.
Posted by: michelle on October 11, 2004 12:31 PM