‘Give Revenue job of collecting TV licence’
Oireachtas committee proposes a new approach
THE Revenue Commissioners should collect the TV licence fee instead of An Post, the Government has been advised.
A new report by the Oireachtas Communications Committee has recommended the best way to tackle the current 15% evasion rate was to transfer of responsibility for collection of the fee to the Revenue.
It said this would help reduce the estimated €40million to €50million shortfall from those who do not pay for a TV licence every year.
In a wide-ranging report, the committee has also urged the Government to introduce a public broadcasting charge so families who don’t have a TV set will still have to pay the fee for using other devices such as laptops and smartphones. Chair: Hildegarde Naughton
The report also recommended that the levy should be reviewed in line with inflation.
Committee chairwoman Hildegarde Naughton of Fine Gael said the current TV licence model needed to be replaced as it was not fit for purpose.
Ms Naughton said: ‘The advent and increasing permeation of digital technology and, more specifically, hardware into our daily lives has irrevocably changed traditional consumer viewing habits and typical linear broadcasting services.
‘The current funding model is not fit for purpose.’
A broadcasting charge was first recommended by the last Fine Gael-Labour government, and was due to be introduced in January 2015.
However, it was shelved after the newly introduced water charges and property tax ‘put a lot of people off,’ the then-minister for communications, Alex White, said at the time.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said the revenue gathered would go to support local radio and other operators.
However, committee member Bríd Smith described the suggestion that the Revenue should collect the fee as ‘deeply flawed’ and ‘continued a process whereby tax collection has been subsumed by the collection of various fees for services.
‘The property tax and now the TV licence fee [are] part of a process designed to get around non-payment of charges with no allowance for people to opt out if they didn’t receive the service or any recognition of their income,’ she said.
However, she said she could support several of the other recommendations, including a retransmission fee for cable operators such as Sky and Virgin for using RTÉ content.
Minister for Communications Denis Naughten said he would examine the report’s recommendations and intends to bring proposals to Cabinet on licencing options early next year.
A Revenue Commissioners spokeswoman said their responsibility was for the fair and efficient administration of tax and customs legislation and that changes in tax policy were a matter for the Finance Minister and the Oireachtas.