Canada Appears To Be Split On Whether To Extend Culture Tax To Internet Services

Culture

from the the-internet-is-not-television dept

As you may or may not be aware, Canada, similar to many European countries, has what is commonly referred to as a “culture tax.” The idea is that Canadian broadcasters must pay into a platform specifically used to fund Canadian content, lest Canada be overrun with the sweet, delicious programming offered by ‘Merica. I mean, we’ve got, like, eight different shows that revolve around singing/dancing competitions, and some of them even include celebrities you’ve never heard of! You can’t resist that kind of thing, right? Well, as you can imagine, the television broadcasters to our north have noticed how much content is now delivered on the internet, having previously asked for regulators to likewise tax ISPs. Now, they, as well as some in government, have their sights set on companies like Netflix as well.

At the “Let’s Talk TV” hearings now underway before Canada’s broadcast regulator, provincial governments like Ontario and Quebec have argued that Netflix should be subject to the levy. The country’s powerful cable industry and the national broadcaster, the CBC, have made the same arguments, arguing that companies like Netflix and iTunes should not get a free pass when their own services must pay for Canadian content.

It’s a good point because…wait, no, it isn’t a good point at all. The internet isn’t television, Netflix isn’t a “channel”, and iTunes isn’t radio. Are they places where culture, both foreign and domestic, are distributed? Well, sure, but then again so are a great many other things. Shall we tax Steam to help Canadians produce more Canadian video games? Amazon for more Canadian books? Hell, some of those levies may already be in place, but that doesn’t mean they make sense. Frustratingly, the Canadian broadcasters aren’t making the argument they should be making: in a hyper-connected world where content distribution is varied, global, and fast, taxing anyone to prop up local content is at best a losing battle and likely entirely worthless. How about just making good content that Canadians and (gasp!) international communities want to get?

Fortunately, some important folks aren’t on board with a Netflix tax.

Canada’s Prime Minister, however, has been denouncing the idea of a “Netflix tax” and some, including internet law professor Michael Geist, have suggested the idea is too politically toxic for the broadcast regulator to implement.

I’d say the entire theory behind the tax is wrong, but attacking internet services, the very services that lower the barrier for all content producers, makes the least sense of all.

Filed Under: canada, cultre tax, internet, movies, streaming
Companies: netflix