More Media “levy” Madness

Howard Knopf doesn’t like the idea of extending the tax (or calling it one).

I didn’t like having to pay a tax, or “levy”, on the CDs I bought years ago to store photos and backup my HD, but I don’t see any difference between that bit of theft and this one. In fact, although I resent the presumption that the tax, or “levy”, is a fee for some service that I have no intention of using, I can live with the idea of a tax on media being used to support creative activities if that is the collective will of the nation.

Just don’t call it a “levy”, and interpret it as a fee for service, unless

(a)it entitles me to fill it with unlimited personal use copies of any works that I do buy, and

(b)there is some provision for levy-free media which are precluded from being used for copyright material (like the coloured tax-free fuel that is available in some places for farmers).

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