Beeb losing $200 mil to license fee evasion

Estimated 7.6% of Brit homes not paying tax

LONDON -- The BBC is losing £141 million ($204 million) a year due to TV viewers who do not pay their license fees.

According to the U.K.'s National Audit Office, as much as 7.6% of British households are not coughing up the annual $158 tax.

Last year, the 23 million homes that did pay the license fee provided the BBC with $3.44 billion in funding.

Also in 2001, roughly 400,000 suspected license fee evaders were caught by door-to-door enforcement officers.

The BBC said the number of evaders had been halved over the past decade.

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