By the way, some time ago I had a post about Liver of Sulphur, and Tam asked why it was called liver. I figured it had something to do with the acidity, and I asked a chemist friend recently, and he said that was it - uric acid, like bile. Ew. It certainly smells like it's digesting something. *urp*
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Did you know if you own and want to use a color television in your home in England, you pay an annual tax of 135.50 pounds(that's about $270) to the gubmint? I don't know if that's just a flat household tax, or if you pay that on each of your tv sets. AND, if they bust you using a tv but not paying the tax, it's a 1000 pound fine (about $2000). TV licensing inspectors come around to every house with a flash-light size detector to see if tvs are being used but the tax not being paid. I don't know if they actually have to enter the house for the little ticker to red-flag you, but in any case, it's just too much.
I am baffled the US government hasn't tried to cash in on this racket. Then again, the cable and phone bills are padded with taxes-on-taxes, so I guess they get us one way or another.
7 comments:
Yes, I have friends in the UK who have told me that you have to pay per television set.
Apparently the tax collectors start out by sending you lots of letters demanding payment and they seem to know when and where you bought the tv as well. Scary, yes?
Is that luxury tax used to pay for BBC?
barbara - yes, mighty scary. Very 1984. That's just crappy.
g bro - I dunno - I would have thought that like here, the advertising does most of the supporting of the system. They do have some very good television programming.
Maybe kevin or tickersoid will educate us on how that works.
Yep, knew about that. Those folks have been bent over the table for hundreds of years. So used to it that they just peal back their shorts and smile whenever the gubment says to.
The reason Brits didn't invent television was that they couldn't figure out how to make it leak oil.
Regards,
Rabbit.
I didn't know that, but I guess we pay our taxes in our bills so they're getting their fair share of what are supposed to be "public" utilities.
It is one fee per household, so you can have as many TVs as you like.
Student halls of residence are different, each student with a TV has to have their own license.
Fees are what pay for the BBC to operate so we grumble, moan and pay up - sad to imagine a world without Red Dwarf/Doctor Who/Fawlty Towers/Life On Mars etc etc
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