So my last post was on electricity price hikes - another price sensitive issue which" has suddenly gone very quiet by undoubtedly has not disappeared is that of TV licencing.
How many of you have a valid TV licence? I've heard so many different arguments around payment of TV licences - "I don't watch the SABC stations", "I pay my DSTV subscription", "I don't have the time", "It's a waste of money" etc.
Guess what? They're on to you!
How is this for a new method of collecting licence fees - if you don't pay your TV licence, we'll just force you by imposing a new tax. And this means that you cannot shy away from it - if you're a registered Tax payer of course.
So the new licencing option is to impose a 1% tax on all registered tax payers' salary. So let's look at this carefully:
You are the only income earner in your household and you earn R10 000 a month. You will now be taxed 1% on that salary, which equates to R100 - per month. You currently pay around R250 per annum for your TV licence - which if this tax is approved will increase to R1200 per annum. NICE! And if you have 2 income earners (let's say they earn the same salary, for the sake of simplicity) you pay R2400 per annum.
I suppose the SABC has to find some way of paying off it's debts. Pity the financial burden again lies on the shoulders of the responsible tax payer. And those that aren't tax payers - hey don't worry, the tax payers have got it covered!
I really wonder whether this concept is going to fly and long term what the impact is going to be. Would you be happy paying 6 times more for a TV licence that you don't actually use?
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