French government wants tax on digital devices and services

TV and radio tax for devices and online
services

“Some players in the digital world profit
from films and other audio-visual works, but do not contribute to their
financing. For a fair system it is necessary to close this fiscal hole”, says a 700 page report handed to French president Hollande by an
advice committee led by former CEO of Canal+, Pierre Lescure.

Since the 1980’s French concert halls,
television networks and radio stations have to deposit part of their profits on a big account, which is then used to subsidise the cultural sector. As
consumers now are mainly downloading their music, films and television shows, that
arrangement has to be altered to include digital players, says the committee.

They suggest a system that boils down to a sort
of TV and radio tax for digital devices (that give the consumer access to
culture) and for online content services (that deliver culture to the public).

86 million euro per year

The committee proposes a tax of 1% per sold
device, which would amount to about 86 million euro per year. The committee does
not say who will have to pay this tax, but it is not unlikely the consumer will
have to foot the bill.

This tax would be added to the home copy tax
already in use in France: “That tax on private copies is and will be essential
to finance creativity, because it brings in 200 million euro each year,” says
Pierre Lescure.

The government wants to incorporate the tax and
other proposals of the committee in the budget proposal it has to submit to
parliament for approval, but most certainly Apple, Samsung, Google and others will not let this happen without a decent fight.