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A comment on Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens. Parent comment

Re:Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax h... by alkonaut on Sunday April 03, 2016 @04:56PM (#11417661)
> paid for by British tax payers,

While that is mostly true, (it's the same people obviously) I'm pretty sure the BBC isn't funded by taxes. If they were, they would be under political control. Which would be silly.

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Re:Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax h... by DrJokepu on Sunday April 03, 2016 @05:17PM (#11417790)
Actually, the Office of National Statistics now classifies the TV Licence fee as tax.
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Re:Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax h... by alkonaut on Sunday April 03, 2016 @05:26PM (#11417830)
It certainly is indistinguishable from a tax from the licensee's perspective, so I agree with the classification in that sense (e.g. for evaluating the tax pressure of UK citizens etc). The important takeaway however is that unlike proper taxes the money isn't politically controlled.
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Re:Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax h... by hackerboos on Sunday April 03, 2016 @05:04PM (#11417720)
It's funded by the license fee. You don't have to pay but then you can't watch live TV.
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Re:Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax h... by alkonaut on Sunday April 03, 2016 @05:14PM (#11417779)
> It's funded by the license fee.

That was my point. It might not sound like a difference from a tax, but the difference is pretty substantial when we are discussing the control of the company.

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Re:Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax h... by aninhumer on Monday April 04, 2016 @05:54AM (#11420544)
Not really? The government still controls the licence fee.
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