Canadians Overpay Millions on Copyright Tax

An anonymous reader writes "Michael Geist has up a post on his site about the Copyright Board of Canada's decision last week on the controversial private copying levy, which functions like a tax on blank media. The good news? The Board reduced the levy on certain media such as CD-R Audio, CD-RW Audio, and MiniDiscs. The bad news? The millions of dollars in overpayment from these media will go into the pockets of manufacturers, importers, and retailers, not back to the consumers who paid in the first place. 'In addition to the overpayment issue, the decision contains several interesting revelations ... the decision sheds some light on the CPCC's enforcement program. The collective has aggressively targeted those parties that do not pay the levy, with 21 claims over the past three years. In fact, the enforcement program has been so effective that the Board found that concerns about the emergence of a gray or black market for blank CDs has not materialized.'"

Comments

Re:As a record store owner.

[MightyYar]

People are still trolling with this? Wow, how old is this thing now?

Anyway, the answer is to tell your little daughters that the world has passed their old man by, and this is why they need to go to college. The other kids laugh because daddy is a moron.

Re:Back in the hands of the consumers...?

[suv4x4]

I can imagine it. How about this: since Canada has public health care, why don't they use the money to fund that? Then the people, who paid for the CDs, will get their money back!

Brilliant!

Oh yea, brilliant. If you can arrange that only people who buy CD-s get sick. And the more CD-s they bought, the worse the illness.

Since, I mean, what if the whole RIAA becomes hella sick. The whole pan goes to pieces.