My OperaTaxes
Saturday, February 18, 2012 11:55:11 AM
In Italy we have a very high taxation. It got even higher after the recent "debt crisis".
There is one tax that I can't really stand, the "subscription" to the RAI service.
RAI stands for "Italian Radio and Television".
Originally it was a public service and since it was the only available service, who ever owned a radio and later a television, had to pay for a "subscription".
At some point the State assigned frequencies for radio and television broadcasting to private firms, so many "free" channels appeared. They were free because they funded with advertisement. Nowadays there are also the pay per view TVs.
So people started to send RAI letters demanding to quit their "subscription", saying they did not need the "public service" any more.
A debate had been going on for a while about if people could quit or not and how to forbid them to access public service, until the supreme court decided that the "subscription" was mandatory since it was actually a tax, not a real "subscription".
Now, things get comical when you consider these facts:
1. in 1995 a vote took place to decide if the State should or should not be owner of a radio/tv corporation. Italians voted for abolishing the public property of RAI. The vote has been completely ignored.
2. leveraging on the original law, made during Fascism, that stated the mandatory subscription for whoever owned devices that could receive the public service, nowadays who ever owns a MP3 player, a smartphone, a tablet, a PC, basically any electronic device, is requested to pay the tax, including people at home and all those offices where (this is the joke) those devices are mandatory because requested by some law or another. Like for example a medical doctor that uses the PC for the patients data or accessing the public health care system.
There is one tax that I can't really stand, the "subscription" to the RAI service.
RAI stands for "Italian Radio and Television".
Originally it was a public service and since it was the only available service, who ever owned a radio and later a television, had to pay for a "subscription".
At some point the State assigned frequencies for radio and television broadcasting to private firms, so many "free" channels appeared. They were free because they funded with advertisement. Nowadays there are also the pay per view TVs.
So people started to send RAI letters demanding to quit their "subscription", saying they did not need the "public service" any more.
A debate had been going on for a while about if people could quit or not and how to forbid them to access public service, until the supreme court decided that the "subscription" was mandatory since it was actually a tax, not a real "subscription".
Now, things get comical when you consider these facts:
1. in 1995 a vote took place to decide if the State should or should not be owner of a radio/tv corporation. Italians voted for abolishing the public property of RAI. The vote has been completely ignored.
2. leveraging on the original law, made during Fascism, that stated the mandatory subscription for whoever owned devices that could receive the public service, nowadays who ever owns a MP3 player, a smartphone, a tablet, a PC, basically any electronic device, is requested to pay the tax, including people at home and all those offices where (this is the joke) those devices are mandatory because requested by some law or another. Like for example a medical doctor that uses the PC for the patients data or accessing the public health care system.
