News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England by lotsofpulp on Tuesday January 19, 2021 @09:42AM (#25833797)
> So they can't just adjust it at will. The fee is set for several years in advance and increased from time to time to adjust for inflation etc.

What stops legislators from adjusting the fee at will? There’s legislation enacting the fee, defining the fee, enforcing the fee. Surely, there can be legislation to modify the fee and remove the fee. Same as any other tax.

Re:TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England by _ph_ on Tuesday January 19, 2021 @11:30AM (#25835112)
No, the fee is not decided by the legislators. Of course they can remove the whole system or pass new laws for its mechanics, but the fee itself is not under direct government control. The effect is, that they can just sneakily shave off the budget by 10% for the next year like with budgets under government control. They would have to fundamentally change the system first, which would create a lot of opposition, as a result, so far no government hasn't done that.