One hopes there's some creative thinking going on at the Treasury. If the licence fee is a 'busted flush', they'll need to come up with a viable alternative, that can be supported and sold.
Whatever options appear in the White Paper, most of the papers will condemn them as a 'tv tax'. The OBR already count funds raised through the licence fee as a tax, so the problem is not a huge change in the burden of taxation, it's the difference between a fixed impost and "progressive taxation" as called for this week by Rebecca Long Bailey.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has previously rejected the idea of adding it to Council Tax, but the BBC still thinks it's a good idea. It's possible Lisa's been briefed on Burnham's Deepest Thoughts, and that Labour may risk real changes to the current system of supporting the work of local councils, the police and fire services. I think, if Council Tax stays as it is, there's a risk of "BBC Avoidance" tying up magistrates' courts event more than with the licence fee; there could well be a politically-driven, newspaper supported campaign to leave the BBC precept out of people's payments, at least to tie up collection resources.
As ever, I will mention my view that something could be raised on the back of the means of delivery; in this case a levy on broadband providers. They are not 'licenced' by Ofcom, but subject to a General Authorisation. The Government currently 'gives' to the broadband companies by supporting Project Gigabit to the tune of £5bn up to 2032, but also takes away from the providers by charging business rates on some of their infrastructure. They all claim hardship, but a levy collected via their bills would at least have some relationship with media consumption in the future.
