New Tax in Canada on Blank Recordable Media

Adrift writes ""Following the recently concluded public review of the current private copying levies, the Copyright Board announced today that it is setting new levies on blank audio recording media. Effective January 1, 2001, private copying levies will increase to 29 on audio cassette tapes of 40 minutes or longer (remaining zero for tapes of shorter length), 21 on CD-Rs and CD-RWs and 77 on CD-R Audio, CD-RW Audio and MiniDiscs. Manufacturers and importers of blank audio recording media are required to pay these levies to the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) when these media are sold in Canada." The Copyright Board's announcement is here."

Comments

International Orders?

[mat catastrophe]

How will this affect Canadians ordering blank media from the states? How would a tax like this be applied across international borders?

Re:Well, if the people have to pay the tax...

[eXtro]

More justly, since the average user is being penalized a priori for copywrite violation, this should be considered an approval to copy to your hearts desire. I've always been a proponent of paying for what you use, but if corporations are going to keep lobbying for kick backs for assumed piracy then I'm going to change my tune. I'll pay for what I use from companies I support.

But not on hard disks?

[evanbd]

I don't know about other people, but I use CDRs for games and other software mostly, but NOT audio. I have all my audio on my hard disk, in MP3 form. seems like I shouldn't have to pay for others transgressions. Ah well. at least I live in the US. Oh, wait...

Re:Yawn.

[Masem]

This might be a bit outdated, but the numbers can only go the other way: the American Tax Reform site states that in 1999 75% of the cost of cigarettes are collected as taxes. While the taxes are generally considered to be sin taxes, the money is tagged to go back to medical purposes.

Well, if the people have to pay the tax...

[LocalH]

...then the studios should have to pay this tax on all their CD's too. Otherwise, it stifles competition because independent artists have to pay the RECORDING INDUSTRY to create independent content.

Oh wait. That's the way they want it.
_______
Scott Jones
Newscast Director / ABC19 WKPT

Re:Yawn.

[Masem]

Sure, it's been there, done that, but this is another increase in the taxes on the blank media. As the cost of aquiring media like CD-Rs drops easily below a US$1, the tax is becoming a significant cost of the media for Canada. It's similar to cigarettes in the states - usually more than 50% of the cost of a pack of cigarettes is in taxes that go back to pay for medical care and lung cancer research. Especially as the *average* consumer will start using CD-R's more and more for porting their digital music around, this tax will become more noticable.

Nope.

[rakslice]

This levy only applies to blank recording media resold in Canada, and is remitted by resellers. This means that (a) the first reseller is usually a wholesaler/distributor (except when a retailer imports the media directly), (b) the levy is never collected by a customs agency, (c) you never have to remit the levy for media imported that will not be resold (while blank).

The limitation to blank recording media is interesting: If I import CD-RWs, and then resell them already recorded with something, it would seem that I don't have to pay the levy. =)

(See Neil Herber's FAQ on the levy for plenty more useful information.)

Small price that I'm quite willing to pay...

[ClassicG]

..for the legal right to copy CDs, even those I -DON'T- actually own. IIRC, it is completely legal here in Canada to borrow someone else's music CDs and make a copy of them for one's own personal use, though only if the person actually making the copy is the final user. It isn't legal to make copies of your CDs for friends, they have to make the copies themselves.

An aside - if I understand correctly, because of this, Napster is arguably legal here, at least to download from.

A FAQ on the levy is available at http://neil.eton.ca/copylevy.shtml which includes this very interesting bit:

Can I now legally copy audio CDs for my friends?

The simple answer is NO, but you can legally copy your friend's audio CD for YOUR OWN use.

Re:CD-R vs. CD-R audio?!

[PooF]

The difference: Price and tax. Sometimes CD-R Audio when used in those cd copiers (the music only ones) will set a flag that will prevent a copy from being made of a copy. Only in the audio-copiers though.

For computer users they are they same but cost more :-)

--
From: Aaron "PooF" Matthews

Re:Yawn.

[Detritus]

While the taxes are generally considered to be sin taxes, the money is tagged to go back to medical purposes.

The money goes into the general fund, like any other tax. It is not earmarked for medical research or any other activity that might benefit smokers.