The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / Thank God We Don't Fund The CBC Like This

**Posted by RadioActive** May 27, 2025 10:58 am

We currently help fund the CBC through our taxes and most of the time, you never really see where that money is going. During the last election, the Defund The CBC movement became an issue.

But whether you like your tax dollars going to the Canadian broadcaster or not, I'm certainly glad we don't do this here. The government of Zimbabwe has just passed a law ordering all motorists to pay $92 a year for the privilege of having a radio in their cars. The funds raised from the fee go to the government-owned broadcaster called the ZBC. And with around 1.2 million cars on the road there, you can only imagine how much it will bring to the national network.

It probably won't surprise you to know that drivers there are extremely angry and are complaining bitterly about the new tax, especially since citizens are already obligated to pay a licence fee if they own a TV. But it's happening anyway and it should be interesting to see how many people over there start using the web to get their in-car entertainment to avoid the levy.

Fortunately, there's no sign of that happening here. Although now that I think of it, perhaps I shouldn't have posted this. I don't want to give our feds any ideas!

Controversial car radio licence fee for motorists approved in Zimbabwe

**Posted by Calhame** May 27, 2025 11:28 am

In answer to your question "you can only imagine how much it will bring to the national network" a quick calculation 110.4 million

**Posted by RadioActive** May 27, 2025 11:50 am

Calhame wrote:
In answer to your question "you can only imagine how much it will bring to the national network" a quick calculation 110.4 million

Yes, but will two car families be charged twice? That could up the amount even more.

**Posted by newsguy1** May 27, 2025 12:07 pm

Don't worry I'm sure Doug Ford would cancel such a fee on cars.
BTW I just renewed my license and while I was there I asked if I needed to re register my car even though there is no fee.
I was told, no. At first you had to register even with no fee, but surprise, the gov't has decided that you do not have to even register anymore unless you buy a new car and that new one has to be registered -- but once.
Gosh... common sense from a government!

**Posted by Radiowiz** May 28, 2025 3:47 am

newsguy1 wrote:
Don't worry I'm sure Doug Ford would cancel such a fee on cars.

It's a Federal issue, not a provincial one though, so don't worry, the Liberals won't dare pull a stunt like this and try to get away with it. Charging a tax for having a radio in the car is just asking to be voted out.

**Posted by Shorty Wave** May 28, 2025 7:23 am

RadioActive wrote:
We currently help fund the CBC through our taxes and most of the time, you never really see where that money is going. During the last election, the Defund The CBC movement became an issue.

The government of Zimbabwe has just passed a law ordering all motorists to pay $92 a year for the privilege of having a radio in the cars. The funds raised from the fee go to the government-owned broadcaster called the ZBC.

Controversial car radio licence fee for motorists approved in Zimbabwe

This fee of $92 would have to be in Canadian dollars, as the current exchange rate pegs the Zimbabwe dollar at 2.6 Canadian cents, so this would only be $2.39 Cnd. Hard to believe I went to school there!

**Posted by tdotwriter** May 28, 2025 2:29 pm

The UK actually had a similar requirement in place until 1971. However, it could be legally circumvented by simply using a radio not hard-wired into the vehicle's electrical system. Many would simply mount a battery-operated transistor radio to the dashboard. This likely would have tended to be a popular option anyways, as hard-wired radios were not standard features and I imagine may have only been available as relatively expensive aftermarket add-ons in some vehicles.

As per the article, "Exemptions are available for motorists without a radio receiver, provided they sign a form to that effect with the public broadcaster. With approximately 1.2 million vehicles in Zimbabwe, the levy is expected to generate millions of dollars for ZBC." I'm not too familiar with the vehicle market in Africa, but presumably their new and used vehicle market might contain a significant percentage of vehicles where a radio is not equipped from the factory or has been taken out to be sold at some point.

Furthermore, more "under-developed" countries have much higher percentages of people who either don't drive or drive motorcycles (usually with no radios equipped) for transportation, so it's not really the "huge" silver-platter revenue generator that it would be in more car-centric societies or even countries that are wealthy but more transit oriented, such as The Netherlands or Germany.

Last edited by tdotwriter (Yesterday 8:04 pm)

**Posted by RadioActive** May 29, 2025 6:54 am

Just in case you're curious, here's the form you have to fill out in Zimbabwe over your car radio if you want to get out of paying the extra tax. And they're not going to take your word for it - you need the signature of a witness. My guess - it will be a popular download in Zimbabwe!