Sir, – There is a very simple, fair, and efficient way of introducing and collecting a new broadcasting charge, by using the property tax.
The average property tax is €300 and the TV licence is €160. So why not increase the property tax by 50 per cent as the broadcasting charge?
It is simple.
It is fair, as generally the more expensive homes have bigger and more TVs and iPads and what not. If you are paying €500 property tax, you pay an extra ¤250 broadcasting charge. And if you are paying €100, you only pay an extra €50.
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It is efficient as the collection system already exists, and has a very low evasion rate. As the property tax increases, so does the broadcasting charge.
Sadly the disadvantage of this scheme is that it is simple, fair and efficient; which means that it has no chance of ever being implemented. – Yours, etc,
JASON FITZHARRIS,
Swords,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – I wonder is there an overlap between the people queuing to withdraw money from Bank of Ireland that they didn’t have and the people who have stopped paying their TV licence? The idea that you can get away with something is a very attractive one. But as Conor Pope says (Analysis, August 17th), the powers that be will always come looking for their money! – Yours, etc,
JOHN COTTER,
Ferrybank,
Waterford.
Sir, – The protests of the licence fee refusers so inspire me. To what extent is its collective noun a chancery? – Yours, etc,
PAT O’BRIEN,
Ballygawley,
Co Sligo.
Sir, – Personally, I am not a Ryan Tubridy fan. I never watched The Late Late Show when he was at the helm and I’ve never listened to his radio show. I was incensed when the payments scandal was headline news and vowed that I was never paying my licence fee again. However, I have changed my tune. Give the man back his job, albeit at a reduced salary. He’s suffered enough.
It’s time to move on and hope that RTÉ will become a more transparent organisation, will ditch agents, will pay appropriate salaries and will be a better place to work in the future. – Yours, etc,
DEE DELANY,
Dublin 5.
Sir, – There is plenty of talent out there, so the presenters can either take what they are offered or leave it. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN HOUGH,
Dublin 14.
Sir, – RTÉ resembles a church that has been revealed to be sham; the licence, collected under threat of State sanction, a form of tithe: pay up or we’ll do for you and remember your place. RTÉ was never independent, any more than any established church; when soft power failed, it relied on the hard power of its ultimate paymaster, the State.
Let those who want it pay for it: they can tick the appropriate box on some yet-to-be devised form; leave the rest of us to our own devices, and allow us to support the media we actually want. It is time to clean out the Augean stables.– Yours, etc,
EOIN DILLON,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – At this stage, my reaction to the RTÉ scandal is my usual one to its output – boredom. – Yours, etc,
L KAVANAGH,
Dublin 14.