Tax haven the Isle of Man, with a population of around 80,000, wants to introduce a compulsory blanket licence for music downloads. Broadband ISP subscribers would pay a « nominal » compulsory tax, but be able to share music legally.
Surprisingly, the proposal has won approval from the chief executive of the BPI, Geoff Taylor.
« At the end of the day, we are not going to stop piracy, so let’s embrace it, » the Manx government’s inward investment minister Ron Berry told the MidemNet conference this weekend.
The idea of legalising P2P rather than stopping it is an ancient one: it’s been used to create for new technologies for over a hundred years. Where it’s too complicated and/or expensive to count or police individual exchanges, a blanket licence has been issued. It’s five years since Jim Griffin explained the merits of these here.
It’s ironic that the Isle of Man is proposing a compulsory tax. The island has no capital gains tax, corporation tax and income tax is ten per cent. Industry sectors deemed to be of strategic importance – including movies and fishing – are zero rated.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/19/isle_of_man_music_tax/