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Dutch Pass iPod Tax

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the pay-to-play dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Register is reporting that in a few short months a proposal to tax all MP3 players in the Netherlands will become law. The levy taxes 3.28 euros ($4.30 US) for every gigabyte of capacity. This means a 60GB iPod Photo will be hit for an additional 196 euros ($258), all of it going to the record industry's copyright collection agencies. And they call file sharers thieves?"

6 of 873 comments (clear)

  1. Good for Apple Germany & Belgium by intmainvoid · · Score: 0, Redundant
    Um, has the dutch government not noticed the proximity of the rest of Europe to its borders? That much tax could easily fund a trip across the border to purchase an iPod without the tax.

    Look for iPod sales to increase in Germany and Belgium, and drop in Holland.

    --
    Drag n' Drop DVD Recommendations
  2. Won't work... by WIAKywbfatw · · Score: 0, Redundant

    People will simply buy their iPods, etc from outside Holland, either by shopping across a nearby border or ordering one from a company based outside Holland but still within the EU.

    Because of EU legislation, neither of these two methods would allow the Dutch authorities to impose any kind of additional taxation on players bought from other EU member states. It's a common market, where goods and services are allowed to flow from any member state to any other member state without any penalty or restrictions.

    All this law will do (if it's passed - remember, we're talking about a proposal right now) is destroy the Dutch domestic market for digital music players. When the politicians realise that then they'll come to their senses and this proposal will get slapped down faster than you can download a track from iTMS.

    --

    "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
  3. Re:Just a proposal, hopefully... by gilesjuk · · Score: 0, Redundant

    It's almost like they want people to steal. Since you will feel you have paid for the music if you pay the tax and will steal the music.

    If you have bought all your music then you won't want to pay the tax, so the only ways to avoid it are to either steal the mp3 player or buy elsewhere. Hardly good news for vendors in that country.

  4. Simple solution by mebollocks · · Score: 0, Redundant

    bypass the tax, buy a Zen micro! An ipod is an mp3 player but not all mp3 players are ipods.

  5. Simple, sell an MP3 player with no storage at all by jonwil · · Score: 1, Redundant

    And sell "hard drives" that plug into it on the rack next door.
    Because the "hard drives" dont play music, there is no tax on them.
    And because the MP3 player has no inbuilt storage, there is a tax on 0.00mb of storage (i.e. none)

  6. New iPod coming to the Netherlands by Morden · · Score: 0, Redundant

    It's empty - no hard drive, no tax.

    Then you go out and buy a hard drive for it.

    Hey actually, anyone listening at Apple? :)