Re: Computer tax set to replace TV licence fee ( Legal?)

In news:4gqtmqF1o9h8vU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
tim (back at home) <tim_back_home2006@xxxxxxxxxxx> typed:
"Amanda Angelika" <manic_mandy@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:qSWpg.23368$OT.22367@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In news:4gqnj9F1odri0U1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
tim (back at home) <tim_back_home2006@xxxxxxxxxxx> typed:
"Amanda Angelika" <manic_mandy@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:8gVpg.10369$ST2.7440@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Computer tax set to replace TV licence fee
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1508650,00.html

My question is would a taxation on computers and/or Internet access
contravene article 10 of the European convention on Human rights?

If it does, then the Germans are contravining this right already.

I guess it would depend how it's implemented. AFAIK the Germans have
always
licensed radio as well as TV so you wouldn't actually have anyone
that could
claim not to require some form of licence. So I dare say it was
fairly easy
to bring computers under the same system without specifically
targeting computer users.

In the UK OTOH you don't at present need a licence for a radio or
specifically for a PC if you don't own a TV set. Making it a
requirement that you own a TV licence for a computer or for Internet
access, if you didn't actually own a TV set. when a PC is not a
primarily used to watch TV
if at all in any case, would seem somewhat ridiculous IMHO, and since
computers are primarily a means of interactive communication and
expression
obviously a tax specifically targeting computers, would in effect be
a tax on freedom of expression.

It seems to me therefore the only way it could be implemented would
be in situations where people had both a TV and a computer. Besides
one wonders whether it would be entirely enforceable under different
circumstances.

You are right to question whether it is enforcable, but then
the German TV license allready (unofficially) works on an
honesty system.

Ah I see I wasn't sure how the system worked in Germany apart from I knew
they licensed both radio and TV.

Of course the problem is here the TV licence is part of statutory law. I
think if they started taking people to court and/or imprisoning people (for
non payment of fines) for owning computers and accessing the Internet
without a TV licence when watching television is in no way shape or form the
primary use of a computer or of Internet access. I think it would be
difficult to justify criminalizing people simply for owning, using or
accessing a means or medium of expression, since freedom of expression at
least within certain limits is supposed to be a basic human right even in
the UK..

Well it's the sort of crazy thing one might have expected in somewhere like
Idi Amin's Uganda. But I think I would be applying for political asylum
somewhere which is still marginally sane. LOL

--
Amanda


.

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