Please support THE CITIZEN'S VOICE with a donation HERE!
|
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
| Home About Contact | ||
|
||
Please support THE CITIZEN'S VOICE with a donation HERE! | ||
|
|
||
Broadcasting Fee – Government Blocks Relief for Citizens: Bundestag Debates AfD Proposal on the Broadcasting FeeOn May 21, 2026, the Bundestag debated a proposal by the AfD parliamentary group that calls for at least a small step toward fairness: until the long-overdue abolition of the broadcasting fee, it should be tax-deductible and therefore taken into account as part of the tax-free subsistence minimum. The reaction of the traffic-light coalition and the CDU/CSU was predictable – and revealing. A Mandatory Levy That Ignores the Subsistence MinimumChristian Douglas (AfD) summed it up clearly: The Federal Constitutional Court has made it clear that the subsistence minimum must remain tax-free. The state itself declares access to media to be part of cultural participation and exempts Hartz IV and welfare recipients from paying. At the same time, it refuses to grant everyone else any tax consideration for this compulsory levy. That is not only inconsistent – it is cynical.The current fee of 220.32 euros per household per year may be peanuts for well-paid members of parliament and ministerial officials. For many families, pensioners, and single parents, however, it is a noticeable burden. Especially at a time when nearly every second euro of an average income already goes to the state. The Real Provocation: Criticism of the SystemHowever, the AfD speakers did not focus solely on the financial burden. They called the problem by its name: a public broadcasting system financed with nearly 10 billion euros a year (including advertising revenue), yet mainly known for one-sided reporting, scandals, and political proximity to the old party establishment. Examples mentioned included the delayed and downplaying coverage of the Cologne New Year’s Eve assaults, the exaggerations surrounding the “secret plan,” the staffing of executive positions, and the broad exclusion of the AfD from talk shows.Instead of engaging with these legitimate objections, representatives of the Greens, SPD, Left Party, and CDU/CSU fell back into the usual pattern: the broadcasting fee was supposedly not a “mandatory levy” but the foundation of democracy. Criticism of it, they argued, was an attack on the “free press” and served only to weaken independent reporting. Hypocritical Democracy RhetoricParticularly brazen were the arguments made by Awet Tesfaiesus (Greens) and Parsa Marvi (SPD). They placed the abolition of the fee in the same category as Orbán and Meloni – as if the demand for tax fairness would automatically create authoritarian conditions. At the same time, they ignore the fact that the current broadcasting system itself suffers from massive legitimacy problems. If, according to polls, almost 84 percent of citizens want the compulsory fee abolished, then this is not a “right-wing culture war,” but a massive vote of no confidence from the population.For years, the coalition and the CDU/CSU have spoken about providing relief to citizens. Yet when a concrete, targeted, and immediately implementable measure is on the table – one that does not force anyone to abolish public broadcasting – they block it. Instead, they point to major “structural reforms” and “comprehensive packages” – in other words, the kind of measures that in reality usually never arrive or come far too late. A Symbol of a Larger ProblemThe AfD proposal is not a cure-all. It is an emergency valve. It shows that parts of parliament are still willing to take the burden on citizens seriously instead of dismissing them with hollow phrases about “democratic infrastructure.” Public broadcasters have developed into a self-referential, expensive apparatus that presents itself as indispensable while simultaneously treating large sections of the population as politically immature.Referring the proposal to committee is typical: the issue is pushed aside in the hope that it will disappear. Citizens will not forget this. The broadcasting fee has long since become a symbol of a political system that constantly imposes new burdens on people while rejecting every genuine relief measure and every real reform with ideological reflexes. It remains to be seen whether the courts will eventually do what politicians are unwilling to do: create more fairness regarding this levy. Until then, the impression remains that, for the governing parties, citizens are primarily paymasters – and critics of the system are primarily troublemakers. Author: AI-Translation - АИИ | |
|
| Other articles: |
 | Mask Mandate for ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS was Unlawful – Government Pushed Political Agendas!The Higher Administrative Court of Schleswig-Holstein ruled: The mask mandate for ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS from November 2020 was INVALID. (Case no. 3 KN 36/20)... zum Artikel |
 | Call for Mass Murder in Weißenfels! Should Mayor Martin Papke (CDU) and District Administrator Götz Ulrich (CDU) Fear Sexual Assault?Displayed in bright paint on the bridge railing of the Weißenfels bypass road at the Burgwerben exit, clearly visible to all drivers, are the messages: “Stab AfD fascists” and... zum Artikel |
 | Lauterbach at the Monday WalkHans-Günther Koch. Recorded on April 9, 2022 in Hohenmölsen on the occasion of the traveling exhibition of the Citizens' Voice and a demonstration.... zum Artikel |
|
Support the operation of this website with voluntary contributions: via PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/evovi/12 or via bank transfer IBAN: IE55SUMU99036510275719 BIC: SUMUIE22XXX Account holder: Michael Thurm Shorts / Reels / Kurz-Clips Imprint / Disclaimer |