Ottawa, Ontario…. “The Opposition plan to levy a ‘tune tax’ on iPods is typical of the grumpy old men that control their Parties,” observed Cheryl Gallant, MP, Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke. “In their world, if it moves they want to tax it. Finding opposition to their plan to raise the GST, they figure they can get away with taxing children.”
The Opposition coalition in Ottawa recently united to pass a motion in the minority Parliament to impose a special tax on iPods, blackberries, laptop computers, and cell phones - basically anything that is sold that has the capability to record sound.
“This past weekend while I was at a local Renfrew County home show, I had the opportunity to ask young people, particularly students, for their reaction to the Opposition tax on tunes, for things like iPods, cellphones and digital cameras,” said MP Gallant. “I was very encouraged by how much they knew about this plan to tax their music. They liked the fact that I took the time to ask for their opinion.”
“What they said to me is why should they have to pay a levy because someone else MAY be breaking a copyright law? Whether or not these devices can be used for illegal recordings should not matter. It is the presumption of guilt that young people find so unfair.”
“I think it is great that a ‘FACEBOOK’ site has been started called
STOP the iPOD BLACKBERRY TAX. While the Opposition do not want to listen to our government when we say ‘no new taxes,’ perhaps they will listen to young people. Young people know the difference between right and wrong and accusing them of stealing with no proof is wrong. Young people are smart. They know what a tax grab is.”
Opposition motion:That the Committee recommends that the government amend Part VIII of the Copyright Act so that the definition of “audio recording medium” extends to devices with internal memory, so that the levy on copying music will apply to digital music recorders as well; ("audio recording device" means a device that contains a permanently embedded data storage medium, including solid state or hard disk, designed, manufactured and advertised for the purpose of copying sound recordings, excluding any prescribed kind of recording device).
