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Why Would A Tax Haven Adopt A Music Tax?
from the ironic,-don't-you-think dept
The latest record label revenue-generation scheme that's come into vogue is the music tax -- charging every ISP subscriber a flat fee that would give them a blanket license to download music from any source, even P2P networks. In theory, it sounds great, but it's a flawed idea for many reasons, not least of which because it necessitates a massive bureaucracy to levy and collect the tax (which the music industry likes to refer to as a "voluntary license"), then determine how to distribute it (or some tiny portion of it) to artists and other relevant parties. So it was a little surprising to see a government official from the Isle of Man voice his backing for such a tax on his island. The announcement was particularly ironic, given that that Isle of Man is a tax haven.
However, it seems that the government official was just offering up suggestions for the music business; Techdirt's own Mike Masnick was in the session at the Midem conference where the comments were made and says they appeared to be meant as suggestions from the official on how to best show off the Isle of Man's broadband infrastructure. Even with that in mind, it's not clear how levying a mandatory tax on every broadband subscriber shows off the network at all, as opposed to the island's tax collection prowess. What's interesting is that even the BPI -- the UK equivalent of the RIAA -- doesn't like the idea, preferring instead to cut deals directly with ISPs, hoping to maximize profits rather than rely on government-established rates. While ISPs selling out their customers to the music industry is pretty deplorable, at least in that scenario, customers have the opportunity to vote with their wallets and go to another provider. But when the government levies a tax on every broadband subscriber, solely to prop up the music industry's ailing business model, that opportunity doesn't exist.
14 Comments | Leave a Comment..
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Comcast
Actually doesn't many torrent clients (like uTorrent) encrypt the files that are being downloaded and uploaded?
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Re: Comcast
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Well
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Yeah but it is very cheap
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/21/manx_p2p_one_euro_a_year/
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Re: Yeah But it's very cheap
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Assumed guilty
(1) Every internet user is assumed to be guilty of file sharing and punished (taxed) accordingly.
(2) Will artists really see a fair and proportionate share of the tax collected ?
(3) Who's next ? Couldn't Larry Flynt make the same demands about online porn ?
(4) Won't everyone stop buying music thru the legitimate distribution channels, effectively crushing the industry they hoped to protect ?
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Re: Assumed guilty
(5) If I pay, I expect to get something in return. In this case, it would be logical to assume I can now download legally whatever I want.
But I suspect the music industry does not like this line of reasoning.
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Music piracy tax, means you cannot get charged with pirating as you have indeed 'paid' for it in taxes.
The same theory applies to marijuana tax stamps.
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Re: Re: Assumed guilty
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FYI...
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Should we pay for a new bridge even if we don´t drive through it? Should we pay for other people healthcare? Should we... There are people that simple don´t learn to live in a organized society.
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