How to help prop up the ailing music industry? Tax Google, a new report commissioned by the French government suggests.

The report, handed to Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand on Wednesday, says Google and other internet portals should be slapped with a new tax on their online ad revenues in France to fund the development of legal outlets for buying books, movies and especially music on the internet.

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2010/01/07/france-google-tax-books-music.html

Looks like Google might become the new "Micro$oft" in the EU.

A certain sign of a dying industry is the proposal of an internet tax to prop it up...

music and books in France
the recent CRTC hearings on regulating/taxing the internet (we dodged a bullet there)
proposals for an internet tax in the USA to save failing American newspapers ( see http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2009/10/columbia-writes-off-msm-now-what.html )

Sounds like our CD levy.

internet portals should be slapped with a new tax on their online ad revenues

It would seem they want to tax "illegal file-sharing". Why not call it a fine.

In Canada does the CD levy allows for legal downloading? That was my impression. At least it is not a complete contradiction.

A fine would imply one be found guilty of an offense. By calling it a tax/levy, they don't need to bother finding those alleged in commiting the offense, nor bringing them to trial.
The other edge of the sword is that some will believe the tax/levy gives them license to pirate content.

and just exactly how would this tax/levy be distributed to the copyright owners/artists ??

This reminds me of the environmental tax....

They said it was to "fund the development of legal outlets for buying books, movies and especially music on the internet". That is because France has never heard of Amazon or the iTunes store, or the hundred other legal options people have online. I mean is it really that hard to buy music online in France!

right...I still don't understand why google is the one responsible for all this...must be because they the ones who actually make money :rolleyes:.

So the government would setup a online site to sell legal music huh? hehe...

Hey maybe they should think of taxing youtube also.... on a per video basis.

Its definitely a consumer shakedown, just like Canadians get every time we buy CD blanks (and cassette tapes in the past). No fairness or justice in it.

Wouldn't this count as expropriation? Make someone pay for what someone else does?