a strong campaign developed in the late 1990s from a section of the public against the broadcasting fee. the reason behind the campaign was to prove "whether the broadcasting fee is a tax and the legality of applying gst to this tax". in the end the fee was scrapped in 1999, and the commission has since been directly funded by the government. the fee was collected from those people who owned a television set although the fee was funding much more than television work, especially radio. some campaigners believed this was unfair.