OTTAWA, Jan 5 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Canadian government has imposed a huge new tax on blank audio cassettes, DATS and recordable CDs that is expected to hike the retail cost of these items. The tax was made effective for Jan. 1st, 1999, but the final levy will not be set until the Fall of this year – after the copyright board holds public hearings. It will, however, be retroactive to Jan. 1st.
Bill C-32, which authorized this move, was recently shepherded through Parliament by Heritage Minister Sheila Copps. It is intended to compensate Canadian “artists” who suffer lost income because of home copying of compact discs and cassettes. The levy is payable by manufacturers and importers.
The proposed levies work out to a $1.50 tax on a 90 minute blank cassette and a $2.50 tax on a CDs, both much more than the usual full cost of these items for bulk purchasers. To give an idea of its impact, The Interim may have to increase the price of its Fr. Ted on Tape set from $30 to $36.45 to cover this new cost.
The Interim, Campaign Life Coalition, churches, charities, non-profit organizations and many others totally unrelated to the music industry use hundreds of thousands of blank cassettes and CDs. The legislation does not provide exemptions for such situations.
The new tax not only hikes prices but also, as some critics have already observed, treats all tape purchasers as criminals by making them subsidize the music industry’s loss from illegal copying. There is no word yet on whether the government plans to introduce legislation forcing the music industry to subsidize the enormous economic cost associated with the moral depravity they have shepherded through modern Canadian society. Some observers suggest such an obligation, accurately measured, would bankrupt modern musicians several times over.
Critics of the new tape tax urge Canadians to contact their MPs as well as the Copyright Board Canada to request exemptions from the levies for all organizations and enterprises that are clearly using blank media for purposes not related to the music industry.
Copyright Board Canada, which will set the final levy, can be contacted at:
Suite 800, 56 Sparks St., Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0C9
Tel. (613) 952-8621
Fax (613) 952-8630