Italian Writers Union Calls for New Tax on Phone, Computers

[Top100EbooksRank]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...lls-new-677796

ROME – The head of Italy’s leading union of authors and publishers is calling for a new tax on smart phones, tablets and personal computers with the proceeds going toward royalties for the writers behind content those devices access.

Gino Paoli, the 79-year-old singer and songwriter who heads SIAE, the Italian Society of Writers and Publishers, is calling for a fee of around $7.10 (€5.20) added to the price of each new smart phone sold in Italy, and around $8.20 (€6.00) added to the cost of each new computer.
The money, he said, would help support the writers behind new works -- whether films, television programs, music, books, or plays -- in Italy.

.....

According to the Italian media, the SIAE proposal has support in parliament and could become law this year.

http://www.billboard.com/biz/article...hone-computers

Paoli said the fee should not be looked at as a tax but rather as a fee that should be paid, not by the consumer who buys the product but by the producer of the product that is made more attractive because of the content available on it.

It's good that this "fee" will be paid by the producer of smartphone/tablets/computers and not the consumers. At least according to the man behind this proposal who (honestly?) believe this is the case.

In reality, the producers will just pass this "tax" to the consumers in the form of higher prices.

[afv011]

Same in France

Ridiculous, if you ask me. In some countries they already charge a levy on CDs, hardrives and similar media supposedly to offset loses due to piracy - because, of course, if you buy such media, your intention is clearly to store pirated material on it. So, everybody gets to take a hit and be branded a pirate, regardless of their ultimate purpose of purchase.

[xg4bx]

The binary reponse of tax/ban by governments has become very tiresome; those two options are the only ones they understand.

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by Top100EbooksRank

In reality, the producers will just pass this "tax" to the consumers in the form of higher prices.

Exactly.

[forsooth]

I remember the tax on tape cassettes.

[Ninjalawyer]

So, even though smartphones and tablets allow writers another venue to sell their wares, it's the producer of smartphones and tablets that need to be taxed? How about an innovation tax on each book published, to support the development of new technologies that will expand the market for written works?

The suggestion by the Writers' Union was honestly so stupid I had to check the link to make sure I wasn't at an article from The Onion.

[forsooth]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

So, even though smartphones and tablets allow writers another venue to sell their wares, it's the producer of smartphones and tablets that need to be taxed? How about an innovation tax on each book published, to support the development of new technologies that will expand the market for written works?

The suggestion by the Writers' Union was honestly so stupid I had to check the link to make sure I wasn't at an article from The Onion.

The writers owe tax on the words used.
The words invented by others and owned by all.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by afv011

Same in France

Ridiculous, if you ask me. In some countries they already charge a levy on CDs, hardrives and similar media supposedly to offset loses due to piracy - because, of course, if you buy such media, your intention is clearly to store pirated material on it. So, everybody gets to take a hit and be branded a pirate, regardless of their ultimate purpose of purchase.

These taxes are fairly common in Europe. In Sweden we have a tax on tapes, but off course no one uses that media anymore, so in that sense if we can format switch from MOBi to EPUB it seems fair to do the same when it comes to taxes. I realize that Americans find it abhorrent to tax media like this, but writers, songwriters etc who works in languages other than English doesn't have the same available market. This is one method of compensating them for their work.

[alanHd]

Surely they get compensated when people buy their books, music, dvds.

[Kumabjorn]

Yes, but they can't reach the volumes necessary to support themselves solely on their craft the way you can when you have a potential market of half a billion. 9 million won't cut it.

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Yes, but they can't reach the volumes necessary to support themselves solely on their craft the way you can when you have a potential market of half a billion. 9 million won't cut it.

Well if you actually expect to support yourself with what you do for work then you better have a second job!

The plain reality is that very few are able to support themselves when they work in any kind of arts. Nickel and dime-ing everyone to try to get to that living wage is simply going to piss people off.

[GoSharks]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Yes, but they can't reach the volumes necessary to support themselves solely on their craft the way you can when you have a potential market of half a billion. 9 million won't cut it.

If what you like to do won't support you, then it's a hobby. I have a lot of hobbies, but I don't expect other people to be taxed so I can have the income to pursue them. (if people want to donate, great...but not taxed!)

[Kumabjorn]

This is where views differ between west Atlantic and east Atlantic. Besides in the US I believe there is a lot of public funding through National Endowment for Arts (or something along that line).

[GoSharks]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

This is where views differ between west Atlantic and east Atlantic. Besides in the US I believe there is a lot of public funding through National Endowment for Arts (or something along that line).

Yes, unfortunately there is the NEA. Of it's 159 million dollar budget in 2012, 158 million was from taxes (1,107,000 was from donations referred to euphemistically as "non-federal gifts").... As the U.S. is currently 17 trillion dollars in debt, I would refer you back to my previous comment.

[Kumabjorn]

I'm not trying to convince anyone here, just to explain. Tax on tapes was introduced to compensate singers/songwriters for the copying between friends (remember the dual cassette deck? ), selling the tapes was illegal (no craigslist in those days), so an already small market wouldn't shrink beyond sustainability. In my country musicians were compensated through radio play (called STIM), the tape tax was distributed according to how often a song was played on the radio, this was facilitated by having a national public radio, writers were compensated in the same manner based on library lending. Since nobody buys cassette tapes anymore, the Italian proposal makes sense where this tradition has been established for some 40 years (I believe). Shifting the tax from tapes to downloading it's as natural as going from paperbacks to e-books.