Canadian MP3 Lovers watch out for the tax (1 Viewer)

[HughThompson]

The following is of note to Canadians.
Recently The Canadian Private Copying Collectives recently proposed new and increased levies on recordable media.
These levies could add $120 to the cost of a new Apple IPOD or $92 on a new digital camera. In addition to a $21 per gigabyte tax on an MP3 player and an $80 per gigabyte tax on compact flash media for your digital camera, the tax would add 69 cents plus GST and PST to the cost of every blank audio cassette and 59 cents plus GST and PST to every blank CD-R. This tax would add over $33 to the price of 50 blank CD's!
The new 20 gig RIO VOLT MP3 player will be taxed $420 Canadian plus sales tax. In Ontario, that means $483
There will be no exemptions and all proceeds will go to the Canadian recording industry. Canadian software developers who also suffer from digital piracy will not get a dime of the new proposed revenues.
The typical response is for individuals to petition or email their MPP or send a note to the CRTC.
These measures will have no effect and a better alternative is to boycott.
More Information on Levy
To read about the boycottHow to Boycott

 

[KrisM]

The question I have about these taxes/levys is if they are indeed going to the recording industry,then when, where and how? Maybe as an Albertan I'm a little on edge about taxes(our new tax-grabbing budget came out yesterday), but this seems a little fishy to me.

KrisM

 

[Martin Fontaine]

Just Sign The Pet!!!
A friend ICQed it to me earlier and I signed it.

 

[John Thomas]

This tax would add over $33 to the price of 50 blank CD's!

What the hell? I'm still sitting in a corner trying to figure out what the music industry has done for governments to love them so. That tax is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Larry Seno Jr.]

This is a lesson for all of you on the corruption of soft money in politics. They need to remove lobbyists from the political system. This is only going to HURT Canadian retailers, but oh well the government thinks.

 

[Mike St.Louis]

The new 20 gig RIO VOLT MP3 player will be taxed $420 Canadian plus sales tax. In Ontario, that means $483.

Guess I'll be shopping for this in the US then.

When does this come into effect? I am in the market for a RIO Volt. Are MP3 playing CD players exempt? They do not come with any storage capacity.

 

[John Thomas]

I've recently become aware that this tax is already in effect in the US. I must've been out of the country when this occurred. Can anyone shed more light on this?

 

[Josh Dial]

I personally believe that this "tax" will not see the light of day. No, I have absolutely no evidence, and this isn't backed by any political bias. I just simply lump this in with the mystical "extra few dollars per blank CD" scare we had years ago. People were buying blank CDs like a mutha fucker. As it turned out, the tax was like 10 cents or something rediculous.

cheers!

Josh

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I can see the point of a tax on MP3 players for the record industry, but why tax digital cameras?

I highly doubt that even if this is implemented that those resonsible for making the music (songwriters and artists) will ever see a dime. This will probably just be swallowed up by Seagrams and their ilk.