New income-linked YLE tax to fund public service broadcasting

Family of two middle-income people would pay more

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Helsingin Sanomat has learned of plans for an earmarked tax as the new way to finance the operations of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE). The tax would replace the present television fee, which is paid by each household with a television set.
      The leaders of the party groups in the Finnish Parliament held talks on the matter with Minister of Communications Krista Kiuru (SDP) on Wednesday.
      Kiuru is to bring what is to be a final proposal to a meeting of the finance group on Thursday morning.
     
Sources say that the present TV fee would be replaced by a separate income-linked tax of EUR 50-140 per person per year. The possibility that corporations should take part in the financing of YLE has also been raised.
      A family with two working adults would pay EUR 280, which is somewhat more than the EUR 252 that a household with a television set will have to pay for the TV fee next year.
      A person living alone would pay less, and people with no incomes would not be obliged to day the tax.
     
There are divergent opinions among the political parties on the size of the new tax. The True Finns are calling for a model that would have those with higher income pay more.
      The Tax Administration and the Ministry of Finance are opposed to the new model.
     
The funding of public service broadcasting has been the topic of considerable controversy for a number of years. Revenue generated by the present system, in which a fee is paid by households with a television set, has declined, but politicians have not yet managed to come up with a new funding model.
      Suvi Lindén (Nat. Coalition Party), the Minister of Communications in the previous government, did not put forward a proposal reached unanimously by a parliamentary working group for a flat “media fee” of just under EUR 200.
      The present government decided that a funding model would be agreed upon before the end of the year.
     
Earlier this year it appeared that direct funding from the state budget might have been the model to use. Supporters of direct budget financing felt that a flat fee would be unfair to those with low incomes.
      However, direct funding from the budget was seen as problematic with respect to YLE’s independence from government influence. Also, the annual expenditure of about half a billion euros would have added to the already considerable state debt.
      The aim of the new model is to collect about as much money for YLE as the present TV fee.
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Financing YLE operations through digital TV smart card gets support (14.12.2007)
  Social Democrats call for financing of national broadcaster YLE directly from state budget (20.9.2011)
  YLE financing at impasse (19.3.2010)

See also:
  YLE to restrict on-line services to licence fee payers (11.10.2007)
  Decreased willingness to pay TV licence fees blamed on poor public image of Finnish Broadcasting Company (8.9.2005)

Links:
  Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE)

Helsingin Sanomat