BBC TV licence for over 75s

[IanM]

Depends what happens this autumn...

One outcome will see the bbc well rewarded, the other will leave it short of cash!

 

[Deleted member 1740]

The poorest of pensioners still get it for free.
Perfectly fine decision.

On the other hand, I don’t pay it. And I know a few others that don’t.
Doesn’t offer any value for money for me. Netflix and Streaming for me.

The point i see is the government, once again,reneging on their word. And there's no " exaggeration of what was said" in their manifesto like the big red bus......

If they're prepared to do this, what else are they prepared to renege on?

 

[clubchamp98]

Going to be a lot of 75+ defendants in court.
This government really have no shame and will break any promise they make.
They backheeled it to the BBC so they can take the blame

 

[SocketRocket]

Putting aside blame a moment, I think pensioner benefits like this and bus passes etc should be cut off if you pay 40% or above income tax. Its simple to administer and fair.

 

[jim8flog]

I personally think the future of TV is streaming and on-demand anyway. Hopefully if that trend continues eventually the TV license will be obsolete. I absolutely resent having to pay it, I think it's daylight robbery personally. If it was just a fee to watch BBC channels I wouldn't bother, but since it covers any live TV you're pretty much screwed. Basically the only live TV I watch is football, streamed through an app, but even that you need a license for. It's pathetic. Other than that I only watch Netflix/Amazon etc so I could easily get by.

I think a pensioner who can afford a computer, broadband an a streaming service can afford a licence

 

[jim8flog]

One good point made on the box today during the debate was

it should only be available to a single person over 75 and not if there is somebody under 75 also living in the house.

 

[jim8flog]

Putting aside blame a moment, I think pensioner benefits like this and bus passes etc should be cut off if you pay 40% or above income tax. Its simple to administer and fair.

Any sort of in depth means testing costs more to administer per person than the cost of the TV licence. The suggestion that the person simply has to supply proof of Pension Credit is a simple one.

 

[jim8flog]

I read the BBCs consultation papers about the changes and responded to the questionnaire.

The figures involved were quite staggering.

 

[bobmac]

Putting aside blame a moment, I think pensioner benefits like this and bus passes etc should be cut off if you pay 40% or above income tax. Its simple to administer and fair.

I agree.
My neighbours, a well off couple in their 70s run 3 cars between them and they both have bus passes which they've never used.

 

[Tashyboy]

This issue for me typifies what is wrong with this country and the BBC. Last week the BBC were all over our honoured servicemen and the scarifice they and others gave for this country. This week they have told them to pay. This has come from a government that has given them no choice. Yet Boris who promised to give them a free licence has said if he is primeminister, he will give tax breaks to people earning over 50K from Brexit money that we have all paid into. Yet the over 75's can spin on it. Boris would of done himself more good in the eyes of the electorate if he had looked after the pensioners and not the people who will vote him in office. He has done exactly the same as Jeremy Corbyn who looks for cheap votes that he thinks will get him in power, yet are not necessarily right for the country.

 

[Tashyboy]

I agree.
My neighbours, a well off couple in their 70s run 3 cars between them and they both have bus passes which they've never used.

This^^^ When I went to me aunties in Clitheroe last week, she told me she used her bus pass for the first time the week before. She went to Blackburn. She said the bus ride was pure comedy gold. Women and men in the 80's were doing there weekly big shop in Blackburn. Old biddys getting on the Bus saying " eee Bert that's another week ave dodged the coffin", " eeee Mavis look at her skirt, ave a bigger hanky in me pocket". Point is for some a tv licence and bus pass is a life enhancer.

 

[clubchamp98]

Problem with this is it’s age related.
So lots of people getting it that don’t need it.
But lots of ones that do .
Some sort of line needs drawing.
If your still paying 40% tax you don’t need a free tv licence. Can’t be to many of them though.
But some older people still work out of nessesity with no private pension ,so no easy answer.

 

[HampshireHog]

Don’t see a problem with means testing this type of thing. By the time I retire I fully expect the State Pension to be means tested despite the fact I’ve paid into it all my working life.

 

[Dasit]

The BBC should be self sufficient without a tax on the general public.

Maybe they might start by sacking Lineker, disgrace the money he is paid yearly, how does he justify the cost?

Can stop sending an army of BBC gravytrainers to Glastonbury, New York, Vegas etc for every single event


The whole organisation is a major scam, but who is the criminal for not paying the license fee!

 

[chrisd]

I agree.
My neighbours, a well off couple in their 70s run 3 cars between them and they both have bus passes which they've never used.

If they never use them it's not costing the tax payer

 

[clubchamp98]

If they never use them it's not costing the tax payer

I think they are pre paid by councils depending on how many they issue.
I may be wrong but sure someone told me this.

 

[Hobbit]

For fun, I've just had a play with the Pensions Credit calculator. You'd be dismayed to see how low an income is to NOT qualify for Pensions Credit.

I don't have a problem with some pensioners paying for their TV licence but as some on here have said, maybe look at a higher threshold.

 

[Dando]

I chuckled yesterday when some liebour knob said the government should be made to honour their election manifesto - like that’s ever gonna happen

 

[CliveW]

When I reach 75 I will refuse to pay my tv licence and be taken to court where I will refuse to pay any fine. This will result in me being sent to prison where I will get free tv, three meals a day and instant access to medical care. Far cheaper than a care home!

 

[chrisd]

For fun, I've just had a play with the Pensions Credit calculator. You'd be dismayed to see how low an income is to NOT qualify for Pensions Credit.

I don't have a problem with some pensioners paying for their TV licence but as some on here have said, maybe look at a higher threshold.

HID and I both get the new state pension, i believe it's called the universal pension, and cannot claim any pension credits as a result, so will have to pay the licence fee in years to come. I understood from the radio today that there are less than a million pensioners who will still benefit although UK state pensions are amongst the lowest in Europe