Nadine’s TV plan is a licence to lose votes
CULTURE Secretary Nadine Dorries is mistaken if she thinks it is fairer to link the amount you pay for your TV licence to the value of your home (Mail). Perhaps she would support a £50 surcharge if the viewer went to a private school. Does she also believe we should pay a different amount for a can of beans depending on our postcode? The right way forward is to abolish the TV licence because there should not be a tax on viewing. The BBC should operate one commercial channel with public service programmes such as the news and weather and enough other content to attract advertisers. It can broadcast all its premium programmes on subscription channels — I don’t mind how much these would cost, as I am unlikely to be a customer.
The BBC has lost its way with its reliance on celebrity garbage and tedious game shows, as well as its woke agenda and political bias.
RAYMOND BRIARS, Poole, Dorset. ALIGNING the TV licence fee to council tax bands is not in the least a Conservative idea and neither is it fair. Our system of local taxation is grossly unfair, as it applies to the house rather than the people who live in it.
DAVID BECK, Waterlooville, Hants. PEOPLE with highly rated properties already pay more than their fair share for amenities, so why on earth does the BBC think it can add the licence fee to council tax? Why not add it to income tax so high earners pay more.
But why should anyone subsidise other people’s TV viewing?
If the licence fee was scrapped, the BBC would have to stand on its own two feet. It could mean it would have to close some of the radio stations no one listens to as well as the TV channels BBC3 and BBC4, which have low viewing figures.
ARTHUR YOUNG, Paignton, Devon. THE suggestion of linking the TV licence to council tax bands would be a vote loser. The licence fee should be paid only by those who watch or listen to BBC programmes and not other subscription or commercial services. Let’s see how long the overpaid, biased BBC lasts then.
PETER BELCHER, Barton-le-Clay, Beds. WHAT happened to the idea of the BBC becoming self-financing?
If the licence fee is linked to council tax, I will be forced to pay for a service I hardly use as I prefer Netflix and Freeview.
If the BBC had to raise its own finances rather than being handed the TV licence pot, it might make better spending decisions.
J. SIMSON, Hemel Hempstead, Herts. HOW dare Nadine Dorries suggest that only wealthy people live in a home in a higher council tax band, so they should pay more for their TV licence. Council tax bands are not calculated according to a family’s income.
MARGARET BROWN, Potters Bar, Herts.