Tuesday, October 10, 2006

New gadget tax in Europe alarms manufacturers

Electronics manufacturers railed against a European tax on recordable discs and music players like iPods on Friday, even as a Dutch industry group was getting ready to impose new local levies on recordable media. According to PC Magazine's news article.
Nokia Multimedia chief Anssi Vanjoki, Philips Consumer Electronics head Rudy Provoost and others urged the European Commission to reform the "antiquated system of rough justice" as the law comes up for evaluation this year.

New taxes would mean an mp3 player like an Apple iPod would cost 25 euros ($32) more and a hard disk TV recorder 80 euros more in Europe, the electronics industry's lawyer, Dirk Visser, said.

"This will lead to double or triple taxation. Soon, a consumer will pay rights to the artists when he buys on iTunes, then again when he buys a blank disc and undoubtedly it will be extended to mobile phones which can also store music," he said.

The article is here.

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