How does that make it not a tax? You can choose not to buy goods and not pay sales tax, choose not to own a home and pay real estate taxes, choose to not have a job and pay income tax, etc...
The license fee is just a fee. You pay it. You get the BBC. (And other national broadcast services, which also benefit from it.)
The clue may, perhaps, be in the name. It isn't called the "license tax".
These fees, while mandatory for certain public services, offer an element of choice in participation, thus not qualifying as taxes, correct?
On a brighter note, I've been free from the dog license fee of 37p since 1987, and the CB radio license requirement that was lifted in 2006
The license “fee” falls into the latter category.
You need to pay it if you never watch the BBC and only non public service broadcasting. You also get public things for free without paying for it.
> Taxes tax something. A purchase, your income, something.
This taxes watching live TV or on demand things from the BBC.
The name was, perhaps, picked to trick people like you, who look at a turd named like a cake and eat it, perhaps.