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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.'"
Sales of vinyl have been increasing year-over-year for the last 10 years according to several music mags. It is a small percentage, but it is increasing.
n/t
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
So we pay a little more for CD's, and that money goes to the copyright holders (we hope).
Umm, maybe this isn't such a bad idea? After all, there is a TV Tax in the UK for the same reason. Everyone complains about it, but not *that* much.
Maury
Oh even better, it's a great idea. Pure capitalism economics forces in place.
So you buy blank CD-s and copy hard metal all day long, and the fee you paid goes to... Britney Spears' come-back album. Since according to "statistics" she has much larger market share than anyone.
Of course it's even worse than this, since right now the actual singers don't see a single cent from the blank media fee. It goes back to RIAA (and equivalent in other countries) and the labels.
First, it's a levy, not a tax, and no, there aren't any levies on DVD-+*/^R's. I think the reasoning behind this is that you can't copy a DVD because of all that CSS stuff (nevermind how easy it is to remove). You can often find a spindle of DVDs for cheaper than a spindle of CDs, because there is no levy.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
"it is not for us to determine who, in the supply chain leading to the final consumer, will be the ultimate beneficiary of these refunds."
- CPCC