[jontutcher]

> I live in Europe now, and I'm fine with high taxation. But for heaven's sake, call a tax a tax.

The BBC is license-fee funded rather than tax funded so that (in theory at least) they don't have to rely directly on the government for funding - private citizens directly fund the corporation.

This goes some way to ensuring more independence, and fairer news output.

In reality, the government holds the BBC to ransom every eight years when the royal charter they operate under is re-written. There will always be claims of political bias on both sides.