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Mar 29, 2023Liked by epimetheus

Looks the same as here, and our governement had the same repsonse when people stopped paying the license fee for state TV/radio. The swedish rules and regulations for that is a chapter in its own right, when it comes to ridiculous bureaucrazy.

The former Socialist Democrat governement instituted it as a poll tax instead of a fee, burdening the poorer households with yet another "death by a thousand cuts"-style expense. €200+/year. For people living on €850/month, that's a lot, espeically considering that they nowadays must pay cell phone fees and online hook up fees too, to have access to basic tax-funded societal functions. Social(ist) democrats have always hated the poor, the infirm and the disabled though. Guess it's safe to hate people who can't and won't fight back.

The parties in opposition (hilariously labelled "the right" or "the bourgeois" parties by all swedish media) clamoured and complained, but have also made it known they do not intend to remove the tax or go back to user's fee.

I think we will soon see an "EU-TV" company founded, and funded through an EU-wide poll-tax, with the old state broadcasters folded into it as local stations. I mean, if I can look up Hungarian and Italian media and see that those nations are going to institute laws and regulations for insect-food making it law that such "food" be clearly labelled with warning signs and only sold in a cordoned off are of the store.

Being able to find that out puts the lie on state media and politicians both, since they claim it is impossible to do so, "because of the EU".

I really wish our "leaders" would just come out of the closet, politically speaking. No-one would revolt or protest anyway, so what are they afraid of?

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So very interesting: Austrians are learning from Italians... ah, ah, ah...

In italy there has been a special mandate Tax since tens of years, called "Abbonamento TV Pubblica", Public TV subscription, not voluntary at all. But as everybody knows italians are very good at avoiding taxes, so many didn't pay that and of course there was no way to control who wasn't paying.

So they first tried tracking who was buying a new TV or after Digital TV a digital decoder, but didn't work very much.

So they came up, under the infamous Government of that criminal politician supported by obscure financials, PM Matteo Renzi, with a very hard rule:

- If you have an electricity contract (who don't???...) then the Company you subscribed to, take 100 euro every year unless you declare you don't own a TV set or decoder at your family house, or you already paying for another house you own (the tax evasion have produced thousands of new riches that owns more than one house/apartment in my country and they are strongly supported by any major party. During pandemic State gave back to those that were restoring their houses or furniture the 110% of what they spent for, but documented).

But as everything is going into streaming, terms will be changed of that law pretty soon I guess!

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