An asset, in a crucial sector for the entire democratic estate, or an expensive and obsolete cultural legacy from the 1960s? After the Sanremo Festival, the Rai license debate is revived. On the right, especially among League members, there is a strong temptation to privatize state television. Yesterday Matteo Salvini, who spoke on the broadcast Rete 4 Fuori dal Coro, proposed a hybrid formula. “One thing to think about will be Rai. How much does it cost for Italians to assess the opportunity of deducting the license fee from the electricity bill, which is already heavy enough, and to think if also in Italy, as in other European countries, public television cannot be free, free, without burdening citizen’s card. Mediaset streams really well without asking for a penny.”
A proposal that follows the line drawn last week by the Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti. “This year I have taken on a huge responsibility, and I have clearly received a lot of criticism from everyone, because we arrived and it was on the account, otherwise I would skip everything, but it is clear that Rai’s licensing fee will have to come out of the bill and therefore in the next year we will have to find another tool”. Messages that alarm Rai officials and do not convince the left. Always in defense of Saxa Rubra.
Matteo Renzi also spoke about the matter in his weekly Enews. “The fee on the bill was my choice. At the time, the license cost 113 euros. Having everyone pay for it led to a reduction in the cost from €113 to €90. If you pay them all, you pay less. Honest people save money, smart people pay. Because in taxes this is the golden rule: pay less, pay everyone. Now it can be said that the Rai license fee is an expensive tax as some politicians claim. But then one must have the strength to abolish it. As long as the Rai fee is a legal obligation, we all have to pay it. If we don’t pay everyone, we go back to before 2015, when the smart ones didn’t pay and the honest ones paid more”.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
