the TV Licence is in fact a tax. From http://www.publications.parlia... :
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The licence fee as a tax
22. Since our last report there has been a significant change in the position of the licence fee. In January 2006 the Office of National Statistics re-classified the licence fee as a tax. Previously, this payment had been classified in the National Accounts as a service charge. Explaining the change the Office of National Statistics (ONS) says “in line with the definition of a tax, the licence fee is a compulsory payment which is not paid solely for access to BBC services A licence is required to receive ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, satellite, cable”.
23. We are not convinced by this argument not least because it has been the case that a licence has been required to view any television channel in the UK for
many decades. Nevertheless the decision means that from now on the licence fee will be recognised as a form of hypothecated taxation.
24. Reclassification of the licence fee as a tax also has the consequence that the BBC is reclassified from the public non-financial corporations sub-sector to
the central government sector. The status of the BBC is thus also affected by this decision and it becomes a central government body. This change also
affects the Welsh broadcaster S4C.
25. When announcing its decision the ONS tried to offer some reassurance that “These classifications are solely for the purpose of producing National
Accounts and the statistical products based on them. This has no implication for the independence of these broadcasters”.
The upshot is that enforcement is now in the jurisdiction of the criminal justice system, rather than the civil system. In an attempt to remove any further doubt, the Government are attempting to legislate to reflect this position but sneakily: by abolishing the TV Licence and reintroducing it as an all-households tax (call it an "Air tax"?), so you have to pay it whether you have a TV or not, to also remove the requirement and burden of proof that a TV is in fact present.