Apple's iPads, iPhones could be subject to new French 'culture tax'
Apple products like the iPhone and iPad may soon be subject to a new "culture tax," as France ponders levying such a fee on technology giants in order to help preserve its cultural products.
Smartphones and tablets are at the center of new proposals from former Canal Plus CEO Pierre Lescure, whom France's socialist government tasked with finding new ways of funding French cultural projects in the face of an economic downturn, Reuters reported on Monday. Lescure, noting that consumers are spending more money on hardware than on content, proposed a one percent tax on the sale of Internet-compatible devices.
The new tax would target iPhones and iPads from Apple, but also Android tablets and Amazon's Kindle Fire devices.
Lescure's plan would likely yield roughly 86 million euros per year. That revenue would go to support cultural industries creating French music, images, and videos, according to the proposal. Television users, TV and radio broadcasters, and Internet service providers already pay a similar tax.
In France, cinema, music, and other creative sectors fall under the "cultural exception," which largely protects them from foreign competition. France lobbies heavily for the protection of its culture, with officials from the country expected to push for the exemption of its cultural products from free trade rules in forthcoming talks.
The proposal, expected to go before parliament in the fall, has drawn criticism for contributing to the perception of France as an anti-business nation. As the global economic downturn drags on, France has repeatedly targeted the pocketbooks of the wealthy in order to fund its government and protect social and cultural institutions.
French officials are torn as to the future of the proposal, which some believe oversteps the bounds of the state's role with regard to the private sector. France's Industry Minister recently blocked an attempt by Yahoo to buy a majority stake in the country's video clip site Dailymotion.
The French government previously clashed with Google in 2010 following the proposal of a one percent tax on all online advertising expenses. French officials also this year proposed a tax on the collection of personal data from users.
Smartphones and tablets are at the center of new proposals from former Canal Plus CEO Pierre Lescure, whom France's socialist government tasked with finding new ways of funding French cultural projects in the face of an economic downturn, Reuters reported on Monday. Lescure, noting that consumers are spending more money on hardware than on content, proposed a one percent tax on the sale of Internet-compatible devices.
The new tax would target iPhones and iPads from Apple, but also Android tablets and Amazon's Kindle Fire devices.
Lescure's plan would likely yield roughly 86 million euros per year. That revenue would go to support cultural industries creating French music, images, and videos, according to the proposal. Television users, TV and radio broadcasters, and Internet service providers already pay a similar tax.
In France, cinema, music, and other creative sectors fall under the "cultural exception," which largely protects them from foreign competition. France lobbies heavily for the protection of its culture, with officials from the country expected to push for the exemption of its cultural products from free trade rules in forthcoming talks.
The proposal, expected to go before parliament in the fall, has drawn criticism for contributing to the perception of France as an anti-business nation. As the global economic downturn drags on, France has repeatedly targeted the pocketbooks of the wealthy in order to fund its government and protect social and cultural institutions.
French officials are torn as to the future of the proposal, which some believe oversteps the bounds of the state's role with regard to the private sector. France's Industry Minister recently blocked an attempt by Yahoo to buy a majority stake in the country's video clip site Dailymotion.
The French government previously clashed with Google in 2010 following the proposal of a one percent tax on all online advertising expenses. French officials also this year proposed a tax on the collection of personal data from users.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
... France has repeatedly targeted the pocketbooks of the wealthy in order to fund its government and protect social and cultural institutions.
...
The French government previously clashed with Google in 2010 following the proposal of a one percent tax on all online advertising expenses. French officials also this year proposed a tax on the collection of personal data from users.
I'd be for that, except for the fact that not only does it legitimize privacy violations, but it gives the state even more of an interest in allowing them to continue.
Unfortunately, this won't be a tax on the wealthy, just a tax on anyone who want to have a smartphone or tablet, most of whom aren't wealthy.
You gotta love the French. Like Great Britain, allowing vast Muslim immigration turn their "culture" inside out. Then they elect Hollande (Socialist Party) for President, who immediately wants a 75% income tax rate on revenue over one million euros a year (which predictably sent several rich Frenchmen/women packing to neighboring countries). Now this "culture tax." Don't let Obama and the Democrats catch a whiff of this: "Let me be perfectly clear - I'm upset only because I didn't think of it first." LOL
Typical b****y frog-tactics.
Other countries will see this quite rightly as unfair protectionism.
If this country, where the people don't even like their own fellow human beings let alone "foreigners", made something like iPHONES themselves it would be understandable.
However, they don't.
Yet another example of a country with too much government.
France as a whole country is a joke. Billionaires are leaving France because of their higher tax policy on rich.
They better go back to making that Junk Wheat bread and baguette to protect their culture. They look good in kitchen making junk lol
Queue the cornucopia of stereotyping, racism, and reactionary politics.
What a disgusting proposal. But then again, I don't really care, since I don't live in France.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OllieWallieWhiskers
france has cultural products?
Yeah, like the Statue of Liberty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
It's protectionism by another name. As I understand it, the EU doesn't allow that, nominally.
Not quite. As it would also apply to French products (yes, there are French products that do access the Internet), it is not protectionism. It is just another consumption tax (as many EU states already have them on e.g. tobacco, fuel, alcohol, yachts, coffee, energy etc.) and it is absolutely within the rights of each country to define those. If this is a good idea, is a valid question though.
Homogeneity is not a good thing, and I applaud France for having pride in their culture and wanting the French to be in charge of it, rather than moneyed interests. Whether they are going about it in the right way is the question, not their goal.
In the end you really can't find a good example of publiclly fianaced art. Such programs aren't culture but rather are welfare programs that generally go to support the unproductive and the useless.
Thankfully [the worst of] those posts have been disappearing from this thread.
They'll ban Tomato Sauce for 'cultural reasons' next...