Tax, but not the same

Recently, the Runet community has been actively discussing a fresh idea from the famous leader Nikita Mikhalkov, this time deciding to collect a tax from the sites. However, it is worth noting that this time, changes in legislation are needed not so much to the Russian Union of Rights Holders (RSP), whose president is Mikhalkov, but to the Russian Authors ’Society, because the bill will concern only“ music ”and only in theory in the future "Extended" to other objects of intellectual property. Here you need to give a small legal certificate: as such, the term “music”, which most news sites now use, is not in the civil code, but there is the concept of “phonogram”, which includes both the entire work (song) and its constituent parts - words and notes of the song as a text work (object of copyright), as well as music and vocals as a performance (object of related rights). It is about such "other objects" that are now being written on most sites.

Thus, such a law may include both sites directly related to the distribution of music (Vkontakte, ZAITSEV.net, etc.), as well as various specific sites , for example, highly specialized forums of guitarists on which they spread notes and chords. It even becomes interesting: will those pirated websites, which they could not grab for copyright infringement before, would pay this tax? However, it is only theoretically possible to argue about the possible results of such an innovation, because officials have not yet made any specific statements. The situation is aggravated by the fact that at the moment a certain “bill of amendments to the Civil Code” mentioned by the same Mikhalkov has not been published anywhere - not on the website of the Russian newspaper, nor even on the website of the State Duma.


By the way, one more interesting moment: the bill will affect only domain zones .ru and .rf . Previously, the vulnerability of these zones was rather in the convenience of “working” with them: for example, you can fake the owner by hiding the real violator in any domain (the current system of their registration does not allow to reliably verify the data being registered), but it is much easier to select Russian domains rather than foreign ones, although if desired, the authorities can work with other zones, although not directly (that is why the transition from the .RU zone, for example, to the .ORG zone, in fact, does not provide complete domain protection). With the tax, things are somewhat different. Have you ever read the rules for registering domain names in .RU and . domains? But there it is clearly stated that we don’t receive the domain in our own property - we only use property belonging to the Russian Federation for a fee and temporarily acquire certain rights (for example, to administer the domain), and therefore we, according to the logic of things, should be taxed Russian Federation itself. Naturally, the country itself will not be “milked”, and therefore the burden will fall on the registrars. Those, in turn, will simply increase the cost of domains, as manufacturers of disks and flash drives have increased the cost of their products. But of course there are no mechanisms to influence the other zones, of course, therefore we are unlikely to see a tax on the .COM zone.
')
Well, now let's move on to the second part of the Merlezonsky ballet, after all, not only can we say not only about the planned tax, but also about the already introduced “on carriers”. What is so interesting about it? And the fact that, after such an impressive PR, the interest of the people to it subsided. No, of course, some individuals are still trying to remember him when it comes to discussing the "copywriting" once again, but few have any specific information about his actions. Meanwhile, the effect of the tax is not as impressive as the so-called “forum analysts” predicted. As it is known, at the moment importers and manufacturers of equipment and disks should list 1% of the sale of their products, but by no means all do so:

The Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation found a violation of the law in the actions of importers of equipment. According to the agency, Samsung, Panasonic, Philips and others are violating copyright laws by not paying remuneration for the free reproduction of music content in favor of the Russian Union of copyright holders. According to sources, the world's second-largest mobile phone maker Nokia decided to go for the world with RSP. A source

Nokia then went to the world, but the rest (of all the warnings issued to as many as 12 companies) so far have not been in a hurry to cooperate with Mikhalkov. Since the introduction of the amendments at the end of April, the debt for tax evasion amounted to 1.3 billion rubles. And not the fact that it will be paid. The fact is that the adopted law actually provides for a number of loopholes that make it possible to legally avoid burdens (for example, to prove that listening to music or phonograms is made using professional equipment, that is, there are media editing programs on the phone). Nor does anyone want to take the initiative in principle. The tax is introduced, but there is no one to control its action . Mikhalkov simply did not take care of this: he still hasn’t proceeded with any lawsuits or interaction with the authorities, only lingering inquiries to the prosecutor’s office, which in itself has little effect on.

However, if everything is rather difficult with phones, then, probably, for pigs, then you can collect money? It turns out that everything is not so simple. Here is what, for example, they write in all the same news:

The publication of the report was the Ministry of Economic Development, prepared on behalf of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. In it says that the accredited organization (in this case, RSP, the structure of director Nikita Mikhalkov) does not have real authority to raise funds from importers and manufacturers, therefore, control over these payments should be entrusted to the federal executive body. A source

By the way, along with Internet sites and “flash drives”, RSP planned to collect a similar tax from cellular operators, only this idea hasn’t received any progress at all. And this is understandable: the big three operators have a good lobby and are not going to give their money just like that. Here, even Mikhalkov with his "connections" will be weak.

What conclusions can be drawn from all this? The amendments to the Civil Code were adopted, the RSP was accredited, but they did not create real structures and systems, as a result of which, according to the best traditions of national management, money simply flows through Mikhalkov’s fingers. There is also the possibility that the source of the president of the RSP will be deprived at all, leaving only the authority to distribute the funds received among the authors. But the nationwide "love" he received for life. Whether this is such a too tricky PR system, or if the king is still not real ... And even more so, the mythical tax bill for websites seems to be not so tragic.