The borderline between taxes and purchases of services from government is defined according to the same criteria as those used in the case of payments made by enterprises: if the licences are being granted automatically on payment of the amounts due, their payment is treated as taxes. But if the government uses the issue of licences to organise some proper regulatory function (such as checking the competence, or qualifications, of the person concerned), the payments made should be treated as purchases of services from government rather than payments of taxes, unless the payments are clearly out of all proportion to the cost of providing the services.