A new tax proposed on recordable CDs in Canada. The purpose appears to be to compensate music artists who suffer from having their tunes copied. So if you're deaf and have no need to listen to or pirate music but need some CDs to backup your data, you should pay. This is according to the Toronto Star and reported as a 20% tax levy.

There has also apparently been a discussion about taxing ISPs because they can serve as a conduit for would-be pirates. This is something I've heard in The States as well - Who knows if it'll ever get legs.

I think the music industry is stopping short of the real issues at hand. I've outlined some other reasonable taxes which should help them recover some of their losses:

1. Tax on all computers because a hacker might buy and use one to do bad things.
2. Tax on CD R/W drives because they may be used to pirate copyrighted music.
3. Tax on backpacks because they can be used to carry laptops which can contain CD R/W drives which of course can be used to pirate copyrighted music.
4. Tax on nylon because it can be used to make backpacks which can be used to carry laptops which may have CD R/W drives which might be used to pirate copyrighted music.
5. Tax on machinery because it can be used to process nylon which can be made into backpacks which can carry laptops which might contain a CD R/W drive which may be used to pirate copyrighted music.
6. Tax on dirt because it may contain necessary material to produce machinery which can be used to process nylon which might be made into backpacks which can carry laptops that may have a CD R/W drive which could be used to produce pirated music.
7. Tax on taxes because the money from our taxes may go to a musician which might spend the money to purchase some land which may contain dirt that might be processed to extract materials to make machinery which might process nylon which could be used to create a backpack which could carry a laptop that may have a CD R/W drive which could easily be used to pirate a piece of one-hit-wonder rap that wasn't worth the CD it was burned on to begin with.

UPDATE:
Does it sound silly enough yet? Where does it end? And when will the masses stop getting hammered to satisfy the few? My feeling is, if the artists don't like the risks, don't use the medium. Example: If I want to distribute a program but want to protect my code, I don't write in Ruby or some other language where my source is exposed. Why on earth should that one [music] industry impose itself on the rest of us who use the same media to accomplish different goals? I can't believe I'm writing about this or how outrageous it becomes for me when I re-think the issue.

UPDATE 2:
It looks like the new tax has been put aside until next year. There was a new tax levied on certain MP3 players but the original CD/R tax is cooling off a bit. My opinion has not changed. I'm not into paying as if I am a thief in advance just because I have a tool which *could* be used to steal. I believe we all have some sort of tool which could be used to steal or worse.