Canada to impose Taxation on recordable media?!

[Greebe]

If you live in Canada, this is a call for action, because there is still time to kill off the proposed levies. Even if you're not a Canuck, you should still pay very close attention. Canada's policies tend to be about as radical as our winters are warm, and we're likely not the first government to consider levies like this one. If the proposed levies do pass, they could become a model for other countries, and this isn't something anyone wants spreading.

http://www.tech-report.com/columns/dissonance/2002q1/canada-levy/index.x?pg

[CHHAS]

We already have that kind of taxation on recordables, they were even talking about harddrives! Luckily the madness stopped with recordables.

[Patrick]

This is news?

It's too late...

We (as in Canada) already have a tax which has been levied against recordable media such as blank CDs and tapes. I don't know offhand what the taxes are, but I'm sure another Canadian can state here what they are per disk/tape and when the taxation was introduced.

I'm not sure what this current report is all about.

[Greebe]

Patrick... this is about a new piece of legislation that should be of concern to everyone potentially affected by it.

Including but not limited to; CD recordable media of all types, HD's, Compact/Flash memory, Zips', etc.

[Falken]

They have been threatening to do this for the past couple of years. It was originally supposed to go into effect 1 Jan 2000 but I don't know if it ever did. I never saw a noticable increase in prices.

I think it keeps getting pushed back (if its not already in effect) because of questions about how the money will be distribributed to the artists, who will determine which ones get it ie- based on sales or can anyone record a bunch of crap songs just to say they are an artist. As well how do you make the difference between CD-R's sold for legit non-music data storage reasons and the ones that aren't.

Right now I know for sure that blank audio tapes have a special tax on them because now a days there are really no real reasons to buy tapes except to copy music.

Here's <a href="http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50995,00.html">another article</a> about it.

Falken

[KvHagedorn]

questions about how the money will be distribributed to the artists

Don't be naive. Any true artist won't see a dime. The money will go to the corporate suits in the media industry who own the artists and the government both.

[Gurm]

Erm, we (USA) already pay this fee on every blank cassette, VHS tape, audio CD (which is why those are so pricey), etc.

- Gurm

[Falken]

KvHagedorn - I agree wholeheartedly and never meant to imply I trusted those corrupt yahoos to do what the say they will.

Gurm - According to <a href="http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/1004.html">this page</a> your levy is 3%, do you know how much this ends up being in real life?

edit I just found <a href="http://neil.eton.ca/copylevy.shtml#other_countries">this page</a> and according to it the levy is just applied to audio CD-Rs not normal CD-Rs. Again that is only according to this FAQ. /edit

The proposed levy here will take the price of a 50 pack from the $29 it is now to approx $59 + 15% tax (in my province) making it $67

At the same time it will raise the price of the 6Gb Nomad from approx $447 (after tax) to $592 (after tax)

It will raise the price of the 20Gb Nomad by $420

Now granted, the levy per disc they wanted in 99 was $1 and it dropped to 29 cents when implimented (Patrick was right it was first put in effect in Dec 99 and is re-evaluated every 2 years hence the new goings on) so it will probably drop somewhat before the end of the year when it will take effect.

One odd thing I found out when looking into this is that is is legal for me to make a copy of my friends music CD, According to the <a href="http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/info/act-e.html#rid-33770">Canadian Copyright Act.</a> It states in Para 80 (1) "...audio recording medium for the private use of the <u><i>person who makes the copy</u></i> does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in the musical work..."

It says nothing about having to own the original. But then I'm not a lawyer and I'm tired and going to bed

Falken

[Wombat]

I've been following this taxation thing, and I've got to say that I wish the US had it. In return for paying this tax, it's perfectly legal for a Canadian to borrow his friend's CD and make a copy for himself. I'd gladly pay a buck or so per disc if that's what I got in return. I'm tired of being jacked by the RIAA. The $21/GB on hard drives seems kind of steep, since it seems to assume 10:1 compression over CD, but it looks like that can be avoided legally.