If you are disgusted with the BBC sign the e petition

[andygardener]

Don't, it hasn't changed.

 

You're required under the Communications Act 2003 to hold a licence for "receiving a television programme at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is received by members of the public".

 

The funding of the BBC is laid out in each years Appropriation Act, which allocates funding from the Government's Consolidated Fund.

 

While the BBC is authorised to collect the Licence Fee under the same Communications Act which defines the requirement for the licence, the moneys pass into the Consolidated Fund and are then subsequently sent to the BBC under the Appropriation Act. The BBC does not collect the money and put it straight into it's own bank account.

 

You and a few others seem to think the nominal separation between the collection of a tax and it then funding the BBC is some kind of argument for preserving the status quo.

 

Could a more stupid system be created if we tried?

 

There is a tax on watching any live TV, created to fund the BBC. So HMRC collect the tax and it gets passed to the BBC. Well no, we thought it would be more fun if the BBC collected it. They're on telly, household names. Who could say no if asked for a bit of tax by the charming Stephen Fry? So we had a word and asked them to collect the tax. It after all for their benefit.

 

Unfortunately a lot of them didn't seem to know what tax was, some believing it to be a kind of hat and others guessing at a small rodent, nonewithstanding it was very much something that others might have an interest in. Still, not downhearted by the lukewarm response we gave them the legal right and obligation to collect the tax anyway, after all HMRC must be sick and tired of collecting taxes so another one could well be the straw that broke the camels back.

 

Being jolly keen on the wonga that comes in from the tax but being at a loss as to what exactly it was and having no idea how one would go about collecting it (understandable as they're not tax collectors but broadcasters) they decided it would be best to ask the nice people of Capita, the most useless outsourcing company on the planet, that if they gave them a load of cash would they have a stab at collecting the tax. Crapita were of course happy to help for a hefty fee. So a private for profit company set about the collection of the tax to fund the BBC.

 

Did they manage it? They did indeed. Everyone paid their tax. Except the one who didn't. Those pesky scoundrels stayed at around 5% every year. So Capita hit on a sure fire way to get them to pay. Send the blighters letters and they will surely cough up. Sadly Capita are not tax collectors either and didn't have a clue who needed a licence and who didn't, so they wrote to everyone without a licence whether they needed one or not. A lot. 21 million letters sent out last year threatening all manner of legal problems if the tax wasn't paid. But sadly while the OAPs without tellys were sent into spasms by the dire threats the neerdowells with tellys and no intention of paying inexplicably put them in the bin and the 5% avoidance figure continued, though the costs naturally shot up.

 

But 95% did pay the tax and once they'd been paid their hefty fee Capita remitted the tax take to the BBC, whom it was there to fund. The BBC could now use it to make telly and all would be well. Except that just seemed a little hasty. It's all well and good getting the people who make telly to administer the tax on TV's intended to let them do that but just letting them go right ahead and then use it to make telly smacks of haste. So once the tax is collected the BBC send it to the Government's Consolidated Fund, the UK's current account as it were.

 

The tax is now safely in government hands where it's can't be misspent on telly based nonsense by the BBC. Now well paid experts, senior civil servants and ministers pour over the range of options on which to spend the tax. A new children's hospital in Exeter? Better body armour for the infantry? Give it all back to the BBC?

 

After extensive debate and due diligence the great and the good come up with the properly considered decision to send the money to the BBC to make telly. At which point, when authorised, the money is sent back to the BBC and the wonder that is Strictly can finally happen.

 

Who could possibly object to such an efficient system?

[Mr Prime]

At the end of the day the BBC is brilliant because of its current setup. Most people support this or are indifferent due to their correct sense of perspective. Yes there are boring handwringers who want some kind of compromise where the BBC is funded by individual subscription because its currently 'unfair'. Yawn.

 

Then there are the fanatics who just hate anything not totally market oriented and would like to see it abolished.

 

Both sides being equally pathetic crawl out of the woodwork every few years to rant, usually when the BBC is in 'crisis' as this means their arguments suddenly become more accepted. Again a big yawn. When I see mass demonstrations and petitions of the size of the poll tax I'll take their views seriously. Until then they can be filed under crank.

[Phanerothyme]

At the end of the day the BBC is brilliant because of its current setup. Most people support this or are indifferent due to their correct sense of perspective. Yes there are boring handwringers who want some kind of compromise where the BBC is funded by individual subscription because its currently 'unfair'. Yawn.

 

Then there are the fanatics who just hate anything not totally market oriented and would like to see it abolished.

 

Both sides being equally pathetic crawl out of the woodwork every few years to rant, usually when the BBC is in 'crisis' as this means their arguments suddenly become more accepted. Again a big yawn. When I see mass demonstrations and petitions of the size of the poll tax I'll take their views seriously. Until then they can be filed under crank.

 

That's about the size of it.

[Halibut]

At the end of the day the BBC is brilliant because of its current setup. Most people support this or are indifferent due to their correct sense of perspective. Yes there are boring handwringers who want some kind of compromise where the BBC is funded by individual subscription because its currently 'unfair'. Yawn.

 

Then there are the fanatics who just hate anything not totally market oriented and would like to see it abolished.

 

Both sides being equally pathetic crawl out of the woodwork every few years to rant, usually when the BBC is in 'crisis' as this means their arguments suddenly become more accepted. Again a big yawn. When I see mass demonstrations and petitions of the size of the poll tax I'll take their views seriously. Until then they can be filed under crank.

 

That's about the size of it.

 

Yeah,I'll buy that.

[spilldig]

Because if Coldseal don't send a bill through my door every year if I don't listen to Peak FM.

[mediumfast]

At the end of the day the BBC is brilliant because of its current setup. Most people support this or are indifferent due to their correct sense of perspective. Yes there are boring handwringers who want some kind of compromise where the BBC is funded by individual subscription because its currently 'unfair'. Yawn.

 

Then there are the fanatics who just hate anything not totally market oriented and would like to see it abolished.

 

Both sides being equally pathetic crawl out of the woodwork every few years to rant, usually when the BBC is in 'crisis' as this means their arguments suddenly become more accepted. Again a big yawn. When I see mass demonstrations and petitions of the size of the poll tax I'll take their views seriously. Until then they can be filed under crank.

Agree wholeheartedly!

[DeathAxe]

These sort of threads always draw out those BBC supporters that just sit and watch garbage TV all day.

 

You people are not just part of the problem. They ARE the problem.

[Magilla]

These sort of threads always draw out those BBC supporters that just sit and watch garbage TV all day.

 

That's a pretty astute observation

[dosxuk]

These sort of threads always draw out those BBC supporters that just sit and watch garbage TV all day.

 

And yet, strangley, these people instead of claiming that Strictly Come Dancing, Eastenders or Snog Marry Avoid are the most amazing programmes on the planet and to get rid of them would be a traversty, as only 100 other channels are running similar programmes, they seem to be claiming that the breadth and respect of BBC's journalism, services like BBC 6 Music and numerous documentaries on BBC Four are the good things, things which are not done by any other broadcasters, and are the reasons we should keep and be proud of the BBC.

[GrapeApe]

"If you collect 100,000 signatures, your e-petition could be debated in the House of Commons"

 

So good luck then.

 

Nearly there now...112 signatures