Suggestions of replacing the fee with a mandatory tax which is collected together with electricity and water bills occurred sometimes in the media.
However, the number of households not containing a TV set were considered by Radiotjänst to be a lot fewer than the 10% that do not pay licences.
The personnel of Radiotjänst i Kiruna AB had no authority to investigate inside households (for instance apartment units on higher floor levels), although from the 1970s until the 1990s, staff from Televerket and subsequently Radiotjänst i Kiruna utilised portable antennas attached to portable signal strength meters to detect analogue television signals emitting from houses and apartment units as a means of detecting suspected non-payment of the television fee from households.
[2] On 14 November 2018, the Riksdag voted to change the licensing system to a general public service tax on personal income, instead of a fee on people owning television sets, which took effect on 1 January 2019.
Companies, legal entities, minors under the age of 18 and people without any regular or taxable source of income (e.g. higher education students receiving financial aid through CSN) will not need to pay any fee at all under the new tax system.