Thursday, May 7, 2015

Public Broadcast Financing

The main subject of our panel today was the need to alter the current system in Poland for paying a subscription fee to fund public media. Stawomir Rogowski called the current system "insufficient" and noted that the collection of the licensing fee was at the core of the problem.

He advocated for a new system that redistributed funds and noted that every 38th citizen paid the subscription fee, a stark contrast to Germany where every second citizen paid the fee. He stated that the German success was based on the "commonness" of the system; he stated that the Polish system needed stability. The major suggestion was to improve the content to make citizens interested in paying the fee, but that the issue was not addressed throughout the panel.

The Minister of Culture then took the stand and mentioned potential solutions. Among those solutions were the following:

1. Collecting via energy suppliers (ie: the electric bill collected alongside the AV fee)
    A. The problem with this solution was that it was difficult to organize
    B. It also cost more because the state must pay a renumeration to energy suppliers

2. He also suggested an additoinal pool of funds from the state

3. Collection based on personal declarations
    A. He said it existed based on free will but opened the door for misinterpretation
    B. He also noted that a database would be difficult to keep safe

4.Collecting taxes via tax offices
    A. It would be the easiest and cheapest means of collecting the tax
        I. Tax employees would be used to collect instead of using intermediaries
    B. Moreover, it would put the burden on citizens to do their duty. 

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