“Spanish consumers will from July 1 pay a special anti-piracy tax on all new gadgets capable of recording, copying or storing sound and images,” Howell Llewellyn reports for Billboard.
“The tax, known as the ‘digital canon,’ arrives 18 months after its scheduled date following sometimes-angry debate between collecting societies and gadget manufacturers,” Llewellyn reports.
“The list of taxes was published without warning in the Official State Bulleting (BOE) on June 19. There are a few minor changes to an initial ‘digital canon’ list agreed by the industry and culture ministries and published in January. For example, mobile phones with integrated MP3 music devices will be subject to a €1.10 tax ($1.7) instead of the original €1.50 ($2.35),” Llewellyn reports.
“The ‘digital canon’ will be in force exactly one year before a scheduled revision. In that period, the tax collected must not be lower than €110.2 million ($171.9 million) or more than €117.8 million ($183.8 million). If it is higher or lower, the culture ministry must make necessary adjustments,” Llewellyn reports.
“The list of “digital taxes” includes €0.60 per CD recorder (same as the initial list); €3.40 per CD/DVD recorder (48.5% less); €3.15 per MP3 (a new tax); €0.17 per CD-R (22.7% less); €0.22 per CD-RW (same); €0.44 per DVD-R (26.6% less); €0.60 per DVD-RW (same); €0.30 per USB-Flash (new); €10 per multifunctional laser printer (33.3% less); €7.95 ink cartridge printer (47% less); €9 per scanner (same),” Llewellyn reports.
More in the full article here.
[Attribution: MacNN. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Judge Bork” for the heads up.]
i mean.. get your money’s worth 😀
Boy, talk about begging people to steal stuff.
This tax is the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. The market needs to even this out, and it’s doing so. Eventually, content providers will accept that the only viable way to compete with piracy is to offer reasonably-priced content that’s delivered easier than it takes to get it for free.
I paid my “tax”
FILE SHARE TO DEATH
STEAL EVERYTHING THRU SPAIN
moron alert
What’s next Bank Robbery tax?
OLD people do eventually die … so some common sense can return
god ……. dumb to the maxx
Ink cartridge printer……. So they collect taxes because my kids have to print their homework??
That right there is why government is almost always BAD.
“I’m from the government, we here to help you.”
Pull out your gun and tell them they are trespassing.
“€3.15 per MP3 (a new tax)”
Uhhhh, I hope this means MP3 player (excluding cell phones, obviously)…
So, how is Spain going to redistribute this stolen money that they taxed people for? Will they be sending money to American entertainers for the songs that the Spanish people may have copied?
I really love the scanner part of the tax. In my line of work, I use my scanner to scan test results or blue prints. This is as dumb as it gets.
Ha! Get ready for a lot of these kinds of taxes if you elect ‘Hussein’ president.
X is apparently unaware that the President of the United States does not introduce legislation – he can only sign into law those statutes approved by congress.
But, then again, I wouldn’t expect intelligent discourse from someone who refers to Obama as “Hussein”, although I’ll give him points for at least spelling it right.
So, you know your product is HUGE when someone or some country wants to TAX it.
What about video/DV cameras, cassette tapes, tape recorders that can record digital signals on tape?
The mob will have fun and get richer with this. Just another thing to make money on from the back of trucks.
Crook one: What are you in for?
Crook two: Dealing.
Crook one: Drugs?
Crook two: No, CD’s.
This shows all euro lovers that the old world
is still a continent of abusive governments
and privileged elites that don’t care about the
working people “bourgeoisie”.
No wonder this once progressive country brought
back the monarchy and changed its official
sovereign name to “The Kingdom of Spain”
I bet the Cubans are happy that when Fidel crooks
they’ll reunite with the U.S. and not go back to
being a colony of the Kingdom of Spain.
@La Perfida Espana
WTF???????
I am curious. Can one (in Spain) now buy a record, buy a cd recorder and cds and record many many copies and sell them for what ever the market will bear. And be totally legal cause he paid the tax to begin with?????
Actually I will not “sell” the cds, I will “loan” them to my friends and well just anyone that wants one. I will have to accept say 3-5 dollars to hold as protection that my friends do actually return the cd. If they do not, I will keep the money as punishment for their terrible crime. Now am I OK. ?????
What about external HDD???
¡Debe ser miseria que es un ciudadano español!
Once again… I write and record my own music and voice-overs, and no one has a justifiable right to tax me for storing my own content. RIAA and others are taking my money to do what they’ve been unable to do themselves – execute a business strategy where their artists are properly compensated.
Sky
There’s no justification for this tax. But of course, the government was pushed to “do something” by media interests, so they adopted a “screw the consumer” strategy. But what’s to stop customers from buying these goods in next-door France?
Ah, the hallmarks of socialism. Taxes, misery and outright idiocy.
And don’t be fooled, it’s not about combatting piracy – it’s about cutting in on the action. Taxes are essentially daylight robbery, designed to aggrandize the leviathan state. What more right does the state have to coerce money out of you, than say, the local mafia, or mugger?
Where’s Thomas Jefferson when you need him? Or John Galt?
Spain needs a reality check, pronto!
“€3.15 per MP3 (a new tax)”
Really?? 3.15 Euro per MP3?? So, a .99 Euro MP3 will have a tax 3 times the cost?
I am sure it was meant to be “MP3 Player,” but jeesh, doesn’t anyone proofread anymore??
@Andy said:
“And don’t be fooled, it’s not about combatting piracy – it’s about cutting in on the action.”
You hit the nail right on the head. The old media companies have a real problem with any distribution system that does not pass through their cash registers.
stupid americans.
@”x” – only an imbecile could believe that stuff like this could be stopped by voting for any of the present candidates or parties.
That’s why a revolution every 100 years or so is good.
Kill off the current politicians and start over.