Fight for ORF household levy: Citizens rely on courts!

Fight for ORF household levy: Citizens rely on courts!

Wien, Österreich - The debate about the controversial ORF household levy reaches a critical point. With the failure of the "Blau-Schwarz" coalition, the ORF has initially secured its lucrative financing. Nevertheless, there is hope for critics of the fee model: More and more people are putting their hopes for the legal way. Around 13,000 complaints against the budget tax are currently pending at the Federal Constitutional Court. This shows the ongoing dissatisfaction among the population. A recent judgment of the State Court of Civil Law Matters Vienna could already show initial legal successes by confirming an official liability claim against the Republic of Austria, such as Exxpress reported.

political negotiations and future of fees

While negotiations between the FPÖ and the ÖVP continue to stand up on completely different topics such as banking taxes and other financial claims, the ORF budget tax also remains a controversial point. The FPÖ is pushing 15 % of the ORF budget and an end to the budget tax. Instead, she demands that ORF should be financed directly through the budget. However, this requires an agreement between the party leader in order not to endanger the coalition. The ÖVP could strive for a compromise by stopping at least an annual increase in budget output in accordance with inflation, so oe24 .

The lawyer and ORF critic Gerold Beneder commented on the planned legal steps: "Since there will be no support from the legislator in the foreseeable future, we will solve this on the legal way." Even if the resistance to the ORF budget levy remains strong, the uncertainty in the political landscape and the upcoming negotiations on the future of public broadcasting are obvious.