A CPC Dedicated Anti "iPod Tax" Election website.

The Conservative Party of Canada has launched an election website devoted to the "iPod tax" issue.

I make no comment on the contents of the website other than to anticipate the misleading comments that will surely issue yet again from certain quarters that the amount sought would not be $75. It is a matter of record that the last - even if ill-fated - attempt by the Canadian Private Copying Collective ("CPCC")  to get the Copyright Board to impose such a "tax" indeed asked for $75 as follows:

 ...for digital audio recorders, $5 for each recorder with no
more than 1 Gigabyte (GB) of memory, $25 for each recorder
with more than 1 GB and no more than 10 GB of memory, $50
for each recorder with more than 10 GB and no more than
30 GB of memory, and $75 for each recorder with more than
30 GB of memory.

(emphasis added)

This is from the Copyright Board's website which simply republished the Canada Gazette of February 10, 2007.

An iPod "Classic" has 160 GB and many other devices well over 30 GB.The proposed tariff did not distinguish between solid state and hard drive memory - nor do the recent attempts to re-float the "iPod tax".

For those with a sense of nostalgia about past unsuccessful CPCC attempts to impose an iPod "tax", consider what I've said in the past:

Now, if you think that’s bad, go back only five years to 2002 for the proposed 2003-2004 tariff that would have imposed $21 per GB. Here’s the exact proposal from the Canada Gazette:

(g) $21 for each gigabyte of memory in each non-removable hard drive incorporated into each MP3 player or into each similar device with an internal hard drive that is intended for use primarily to record and play music.

Now, for those who can’t or won’t do simple arithmetic, I’ll do it for you.

A $21 per GB tariff (“tax”) on a 160 GB iPod “Classic” that now sells for about $270 would be - get ready for this -$3,360.00.

On a one Terabyte eternal hard drive that sells for as low as $69 in Canada, the “tax” would be $21,000.00.

On a three Terabyte terabyte eternal hard drive that now sells for about $220 in Canada, the tariff (“tax”) would now be $63,000.00. This is NOT a misprint.

So much for the forward thinking capacity of the Canadian Private Copying Collective.

This shows the fallacy of taxing technology. And why Minister Moore was right to call the proposed iPod tax "really toxic and, frankly, really dumb". 

BTW, those prices for hard drives are now much less. One can buy a 3 TB external HD for about $179 at at least one big box store in Canada.

By way of disclosure, I should point out that I have long acted for the Retail Council of Canada in successful opposition to an iPod "tax" before the Copyright Board, the Federal Court of  Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada (where leave to appeal was denied to all parties). 

HK