The government wants to abolish the audiovisual license fee this year, as part of measures to support household purchasing power, according to the report of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday. The abolition of the fee of 138 euros is a campaign promise from Emmanuel Macron.
The government wants to abolish the audiovisual license fee this year, as part of measures to support household purchasing power, according to the report of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday. “The contribution to public broadcasting will be abolished permanently from this year and the financing of public broadcasting will be ensured in compliance with the constitutional objective of pluralism and independence of the media”, indicates the government, in the transcription of a communication from the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire during the Council of Ministers.
A tax that brings in 3 billion euros per year to the State
The abolition of the fee of 138 euros, paid by households with a television and which brings in more than 3 billion euros net per year, is a campaign promise from Emmanuel Macron. Before the election, he had judged his disappearance “consistent” with the abolition of the housing tax, which is collected at the same time as the fee.
In Bercy, it is confirmed that “the objective” is indeed to ratify this deletion “in 2022”, via the amending finance bill (PLFR) which will be presented after the legislative elections in June.
A controversial disappearance
“As part of the presidential campaign, the PR has made a number of commitments on the issue of purchasing power. A PLFR will be presented to translate these commitments into the daily life of the French”, also declared Wednesday the door- word of the government Gabriel Attal, citing in particular “the abolition of the contribution to public broadcasting”.
The announcement of the forthcoming disappearance of the license fee, now directly affected to the public audiovisual sector, raised fears about a risk of loss of independence of the public audiovisual media vis-à-vis the State. The mechanism that will replace this mode of financing has not yet been specified. This question was at the heart of a mission by the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) and the General Inspectorate of Cultural Affairs (IGAC), mandated last October by the executive.