Better-off households ought to pay extra for the BBC, a former chairman has instructed, as he branded the present licence payment "regressive".
Under the prevailing system, Richard Sharp stated he was involved these on decrease incomes paid the identical as richer folks for the general public service broadcaster.
He stated the controversial flat-rate levy may very well be changed by a cost linked to broadband payments or council tax.
The authorities is taking a look at whether or not to interchange the £159-a-year licence payment with a brand new funding mannequin after 2027.
The price is because of begin rising once more with inflation subsequent April, after a two-year freeze.
Mr Sharp, a Tory donor, give up as BBC chairman earlier this yr after a report discovered he breached guidelines by failing to reveal the function he performed in serving to then-prime minister Boris Johnson safe an £800,000 mortgage.
Questioning the equity of the licence payment, he advised The Daily Telegraph's Chopper's Politics podcast: "I would be in favour of a form of a mandatory payment - currently the licence fee.
"There is one concern which is it is regressive, which can should be addressed."
Pointing out poorer households paid the same price, he added: "You can have a look at fashions around the globe, there is a broadband tax, there is a family tax and there is the licence payment. Change is disruptive from shifting from one mechanism that works to a different."
Labour has beforehand indicated it could think about means-testing the payment if it gained energy.
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Women disproportionately prosecuted
Mr Sharp was additionally involved the way in which the licence payment was enforced by door-stepping inspectors meant ladies had been disproportionately more likely to be prosecuted for non-payment.
Failing to pay the licence payment is against the law.
Almost 1,000 folks per week - seven out of 10 of whom are ladies - are prosecuted for evasion.
He stated: "The two challenges are obviously it's regressive and also that the collection process can fall harder on women because women often answer the door."
Mr Sharp stated each side of the House of Commons "broadly support the BBC", and that any modifications to its funding mannequin needs to be debated in parliament.
But he warned towards decriminalising the licence payment, saying it may result in extra folks being introduced earlier than the civil courts over non-payment.
He stated: "The sanction itself drives behaviour. If you go to civil litigation, you actually can increase the amount of litigation that takes place. So it's not as obvious as you think.
"As a results of folks paying the licence payment, you get a standard good, which is you get an unimaginable worth for what individuals are really paying on a family foundation."
In the wake of his personal expertise as chairman, Mr Sharp additionally stated he would advise somebody going for the job to "make sure you and your family know what you're getting into" and warned it made them "a target".
He stated: "It's a sufficiently important institution that who ever is the chair is vulnerable."
The concern of freelancers and impartiality on the BBC was additionally "something that needed to be addressed", he stated, after the controversy sparked by Gary Lineker when he in contrast the federal government's language used to advertise its asylum plans to Thirties Germany.
Content Source: information.sky.com
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