She added that the SABC billed around R3 billion in TV licence fees per year but was only able to collect around R791 million.<\/p>\n
Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) chief executive Wayne Duvenage told MyBroadband<\/a> <\/strong>that the low compliance rate is a clear sign that it is a tax revolt.<\/p>\n He said paying for a TV licence is a small annual fee, but that most people do not pay it out of principle.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is seen as an unnecessary tax, and nothing gets citizens onto a cause of defiance against a state that is steeped in corruption than a tax revolt that the government can do nothing about,\u201d said Duvenage.<\/p>\n The Department of Communications has indicated that tit will now look at other means to improve licence collections and raise additional funding for the embattled SABC.<\/p>\n Presenting to parliament <\/strong><\/a>this week, deputy minister of Communications Pinky Kekana said that if companies like Multichoice can be obligated to collect TV licence fees on behalf of the SABC, it could mitigate some of the financial issues facing the state broadcaster.<\/p>\n Kekana added that this would not be limited to Multichoice and that other broadcasters may also assist in collecting. In an October 2020\u00a0briefing<\/a><\/strong>, the SABC indicated that this could include streaming services such as Netflix.<\/p>\n She said that the SABC\u2019s budgetary constraints mean that it now runs the risks of having to rationalise programming which is presented in indigenous languages.<\/p>\n She said that a household levy could help alleviate these concerns, as the SABC could be further funded as public service media.<\/p>\n However, Kekana said that this was just a proposal and that any additional levies and taxes would have to be approved by Finance minister Tito Mboweni.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t fold our arms and say the status quo must remain when we know our our public broadcaster is dwindling. So these are the proposals we must put in the public domain and whether the government can fund us directly from the fiscus or be creative at looking at the household levy.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/TV-licence.png\")
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