iTax

Looks like a Dutch music industry group, SONT, is looking to impose a tax on digital music players, such as Apple's iPod, and Microsoft's Zune. The music industry is claiming that products such as the iPod and the Zune encourage piracy, and discourage consumers from purchasing music through venues such as CDs.

This sort of behavior is corporate welfare and economic protectionism as its worst. If the objective is to prevent "unfair competition" as some call it, why not make cars illegal? I'm sure they put a lot of coach-builders out of work, and I bet many of those guys had families to feed.

Its the consumer that matters, not the rest. Protectionism of this sort hurts consumers, stunts economic growth & technological advancement, and in the long run, is bad for all of us. Yes, even the CD manufacturers, and yes, even the coach-builders.