It's a conspiracy - "they" don't want us to read... :P

I still have and use my Canadian iTunes account. W/ the latest OS upgrade and the added ability to read them directly on the computer, I've recently discovered the joys of iBooks, which I like a lot better than the good old Kindle books that I'd come to rely on since we left home a few years ago.
 
Anyway, I've just realized that if I buy iBooks, tax applies - which for us back in French Canada means an extra 15%. It surprised me as I've been buying music and renting movies forever on iTunes and tax never applied. I'm wondering why for books in particular.
 
It had been so long since I'd faced that dreaded Canadian tax that I was in a bit of a shock when I saw the receipt this morning.
 
Anyway, that's one more reason to be glad to go back to traditional books, which I can finally do. :)

Don't get me started on Canadian taxes, especially in Quebec. Ugh. Or postal codes. I do buy Cuban cigars in Canada, but I'll wait until I've crossed the border to get lunch.
 
I'm just now getting into e-books, mainly because I have an overseas trip coming up and want to load up on reading material. But I don't know if it'll become a long-term habit. Physical books on paper have too many advantages:
 
1. You can pass them on to others after you're done with them
2. You can read them on the plane under 10,000 feet
3. You can read them all the way to Tokyo - and back - without a recharge
4. You can write notes in the margins (don't try that with your tablet!)
5. You can smack flies with them (don't try that with your tablet!)
6. You don't feel too bad when you leave one behind on the plane (don't do that with your tablet!)
 
 
 
 
 

IMHO, eBooks are great for light stuff - biographies and such. Most of the time, I read that stuff while practicing guitar or noodling in front of the screen. The iBook I bought last night has slideshows and audio and tons of cool stuff - which is great when you're reading about a band or an artist.
 
But the minute I want to read something a bit more substantial which requires more attention, I still prefer the real thing.
 
First time I got back to reading actual book after a few months, I noticed that I had to re-train myself to focus on only one thing. On the computer, you get so used to scan for new info every few moments that it becomes a second nature - put on music, check emails, look up a word and get sidetracked...
 
Pulling the plug and reading a real book helps keep some control on my attention span.

Old55
Can't you update your account to Las Vegas and avoid the taxes since you aren't there any more?  Or start a new US account for the books?  

That's what I'll probably do eventually. But since I'm still officially a Canadian citizen, and I still have my personal bank account over there, and since everything is linked to that bank account, I never made the change. It also allows me to access movies and music that aren't available in the US Store and to use the (Canadian) gift cards that the family sends us for Christmas and our birthdays. My wife has a US account.
 
You can have 2 accounts, but accessing one makes the other unusable for 45 days IIRC, so you can't really ping-pong between them.
 

ampfixer
Last week there was a bit of news on the CBC. It seams that Americans are concerned that Canadians that are living in the U.S. much of the time, or earning a part of their income in the U.S., may be avoiding U.S. tax. Both sides of the border will be looking into these types of people and the U.S. wants access to Canadian tax records.
 
This is going to hit entertainers pretty hard. A good friend earns a living touring the U.S. and Canada. At U.S. gigs he has to leave money behind in the form of a withholding tax. He then has to apply for the return of the money after he pays the tax.
 
Free trade, right.

In 2012, IIRC, my wife had to pay taxes in Canada, in Spain, in the US and in Russia because of the tour - we had remained in each place for a significant amount of time, enough for them to want their taxes. And even though we'd merely been in Canada for a few weeks, we still had a residence there, so they claimed all the $ they could.
 
Since we're now residing in the US full time and she's on the American payroll, we only need to worry about US taxes. We're still Canadian citizen and we still have bank accounts there and social security numbers, but that's it. No residence, no insurance, nothing. 
 
But I have no problem understanding how it can impact touring artists. Not to mention that when you don't have a huge operation to back you up with its  team of accountants and lawyers to handle the technicalities for you, you may end up thinking twice before planning a tour across the border.

Rain

ampfixer
Last week there was a bit of news on the CBC. It seams that Americans are concerned that Canadians that are living in the U.S. much of the time, or earning a part of their income in the U.S., may be avoiding U.S. tax. Both sides of the border will be looking into these types of people and the U.S. wants access to Canadian tax records.
 
This is going to hit entertainers pretty hard. A good friend earns a living touring the U.S. and Canada. At U.S. gigs he has to leave money behind in the form of a withholding tax. He then has to apply for the return of the money after he pays the tax.
 
Free trade, right.

In 2012, IIRC, my wife had to pay taxes in Canada, in Spain, in the US and in Russia because of the tour - we had remained in each place for a significant amount of time, enough for them to want their taxes. And even though we'd merely been in Canada for a few weeks, we still had a residence there, so they claimed all the $ they could.
 
Since we're now residing in the US full time and she's on the American payroll, we only need to worry about US taxes. We're still Canadian citizen and we still have bank accounts there and social security numbers, but that's it. No residence, no insurance, nothing. 
 
But I have no problem understanding how it can impact touring artists. Not to mention that when you don't have a huge operation to back you up with its  team of accountants and lawyers to handle the technicalities for you, you may end up thinking twice before planning a tour across the border.

I've always held that one of the great evils of the tax system is its complexity. Every time I attempt to read government tax literature I end up seeing the red mist. The people who write this stuff are evil beyond words. For the first year I was in business I did all of my taxes and payroll figuring how hard could it be? Just trying to learn the basics made me psychotic. I wanted to hunt down and strangle whomever was responsible for writing the instructions I was reading. And then no matter how much you think you understand it, you still get it wrong. I think I ended up with just over $1000 in fines before I said enough is enough and got an accountant. I can't help but wonder how much healthier and dynamic the economy would be if the powers that be didn't throw so many obstacles and riddles in the path of people who just want to get on and produce. 

I've had to pay Canadian taxes, plus U.S. taxes on money I earned in Canada. Extra paperwork, and ultimately you get screwed by two governments.
 
And now the Canadian government has imposed a new tax to discourage American musicians from going there, or more accurately, to discourage Canadian employers from bringing them in. It's called the Foreign Workers Fee, and it's $275 per musician and crew. This is on top of the $150 per person work permit! If you're a Canadian nightclub owner and you want to hire a 10-piece band with a 4-member crew, it'll cost you an extra $5,950. Maybe not a deal-killer for big acts, but for your average Northwest bar band it means you're going to Montana - again. Not Vancouver.

bitflipper
I've had to pay Canadian taxes, plus U.S. taxes on money I earned in Canada. Extra paperwork, and ultimately you get screwed by two governments.
 
And now the Canadian government has imposed a new tax to discourage American musicians from going there, or more accurately, to discourage Canadian employers from bringing them in. It's called the Foreign Workers Fee, and it's $275 per musician and crew. This is on top of the $150 per person work permit! If you're a Canadian nightclub owner and you want to hire a 10-piece band with a 4-member crew, it'll cost you an extra $5,950. Maybe not a deal-killer for big acts, but for your average Northwest bar band it means you're going to Montana - again. Not Vancouver.

I've heard about this one - I remembered that later last night. Culturally, this is a recipe for disaster. A lot of the best bands I've seen live wouldn't be able to go to Canada w/ this new tax. 

The current Canadian government has a very peculiar take on "arts and culture".

ampfixer
The current Canadian government is FUBAR at all levels. The Toronto mayor drives drunk and smokes crack. If he was a young black kid he'd be in prison. The trend continues up the chain full of liars, pimps and thieves. It's good that we can't have a political thread because I'd likely have a stroke.

Well, considering how polite we are, I'm sure we could have a nice Canadian thread. :P

 
 

craigb

Moshkiae
Hi,
 
Having been a part of a house with 45k books of Portuguese, Spanish and Brazilian literature, has made me a bit slanted towards the paper, and the book. I have yet to come up to the electronic version and most of it ahs to be with the bad eye sight, as with the book I can put it down and then walk away, and then come back. On the Kindle, I have a much harder time finding my way around, specially if the page moved up or down.
 
I suppose I could get used to the Kindle and such, but all in all, for writing purposes, I have not seen the Kindle Books used in too many References, although many of them these days are new, as folks are no longer trying to "publish" these things directly anymore.
 
I actually like that better, but unlike the music business, the "books" will be buried for way too long before anyone finds anything and actually reads it.
 
But, imagine Bapu reading "War and Peace" ... ain't gonna happen! Or Craig reading "Moby Dick".
 
Ciao baby!

Gosh, maybe if they had made your house out of normal building materials and not 45,000 books, you could have read them instead of being slanted Pedro!
 ...

There is a side of the family that is really slanted and I think, ugly. My mom is a total snob and so are some of my sisters. They think that being a professor is higher class than working for a cable company, for example.
At least, you know I am not that bad!
 
But it's hard to argue with mom having published in 34 years MORE, than my actual dad did in his lifetime of 59 years! But this is a level of "success" that is really hard to talk about here, without people trashing me. Having been a part of it, there is a good side, and there is the bad side. The bad side is that the children do not mean much to the legacy at all! It's all about the name and the "star", even after it has long died out. So, in some ways, I have known a very ugly side of fame, and that would explain a lot of my "disdain" for it. But I am NOT cynical enough to go around saying that all those books are toilet paper, despite all of Carlos Castaneda's jokes! While funny, in many ways, it is also a serious disrespect for people's abilities and studies, and some of those studies and works are very good.
 
A poem about an "intelectual pursuit" is good. A poem about one of the childrrn playing, is pedestrial and bad! That kind of thing!
 
I say the same thing about music all the time, and while I might joke about this and that, I do not like to trash it, though I have no qualms making fun of someone's smugness.

bitflipper

Rain

ampfixer
The current Canadian government is FUBAR at all levels. The Toronto mayor drives drunk and smokes crack. If he was a young black kid he'd be in prison. The trend continues up the chain full of liars, pimps and thieves. It's good that we can't have a political thread because I'd likely have a stroke.

Well, considering how polite we are, I'm sure we could have a nice Canadian thread. :P

Best laugh I've had today, Rain! Then I scrolled the image down. It was the "press 2 for French" that had me on the floor. 
 
Quebec is an especially schizophrenic culture. They forced British Columbia to be bilingual, even though Ukrainian speakers probably outnumber French speakers there and the true second-language of Vancouver is Chinese.

:)
 
I've come to realize a lot of things about Quebec since I've left that place, how most of what I'd been told and grew up taking for granted was absolute nonsense.
 
There are very simple questions we/they need to ask themselves, but unfortunately, unless one steps out for long enough, he's too caught up into this language/cultural war for which we're recruited in the cradle.
 
I'd most likely be considered a traitor by a majority of people back there. I'm not kidding.
 
I'm thinking of writing a little book about it.