A new Internet Tax
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 13 February 2019 09:22
- Written by editor
Paov,
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and the CBC are pushing for an Internet Tax as part of the... Broadcasting and Telecommunications Acts review,1,2,3 which will shape the laws that govern the Internet in Canada, and we’ll be the ones to foot the bill of such a tax if passed.
We already pay some of the highest Internet prices in the world for middle of the road service. An Internet Tax will only make matters worse and further Canada’s digital divide. We simply cannot afford to pay more for our Internet services.
But the good news is, we are in an election year and the Broadcast and Telecommunications Acts review panel won’t release its report until 2019. So this is a prime opportunity for us to make this proposal politically toxic and ensure that no matter who wins, all decision makers know people in Canada strongly oppose an Internet Tax.
Will you send a message to your MP today and tell them to reject the Internet Tax?
The Internet Tax is a proposal that would require Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to pay into Canadian content funding, as Canadian broadcasters already do. The problem with this proposal is that while the fees come from ISPs, the actual costs of an Internet Tax will inevitably be passed down to consumers.
Moreover, there’s no assurance that this proposal will help smaller struggling creators and artists, but it will most certainly deepen the pockets of big media conglomerates and publishers. In other words, it’s just another corporate subsidy.
An additional cost to the already extraordinarily high price of getting online in Canada will disproportionately affect low income individuals, First Nations communities, rural areas, elderly people and visible minorities, who already struggle to get online and often have to sacrifice their basic needs to stay connected.4
TELL YOUR MP: AXE THE INTERNET TAX
This recycled idea was already rejected by the federal government and nearly 40,000 Internet users across the country. We can’t allow this toxic proposal to rear its ugly head up again and be passed into law.
Thanks for everything you do,
Marie, on behalf of OpenMedia
Footnotes
[1] CRTC written public submission to the Legislative Review Panel: Government of Canada
[2] Harnessing Change: The Future of Programming Distribution in Canada: Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
[3] Our Culture Our Democracy: Canada in the Digital World: CBC
[4] Anti-poverty advocates call for affordable Internet: Toronto Star
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