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# Is a Tax on iDevices a Savior of French Culture?
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/is-a-tax-on-idevices-a-savior-of-french-culture/
- Published: 2013-05-16T11:00:11.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:18:14.000Z
- Description: André Malraux, the prolific French critic and Minister of Culture under Charles de Gaulle, once wrote that art is an "anti-destin," a revolt against destiny. And by that measure, the country's recently-released report calling for a tax on internet-connected devices to fund cultural production qualif
- Author: Mostafa Heddaya
- Tags: News, France, Politics, Taxes, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 06:59 (2012, 2013, part 2)

![DA-386](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/05/da-386.jpg)

Doug Aitken, “Listening” (2011) (image via 303 Gallery)

André Malraux, the prolific French critic and Minister of Culture under Charles de Gaulle, once wrote that art is an “*anti-destin*,” a revolt against destiny. And by that measure, the country’s recently-released report calling for a tax on internet-connected devices to fund cultural production qualifies simultaneously as artless and a work of art in itself. The generally well-intentioned document, authored by Pierre Lescure, a special advisor on France’s “[exception culturelle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural%5Fexception?ref=hyperallergic.com)” doctrine, was presented to President François Hollande on Monday, and *Le Monde* [reported](http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2013/05/13/rapport-lescure-taxer-les-smartphones-pour-sauver-l-exception-culturelle-francaise%5F3176247%5F3234.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) that it marks a departure from the aggressive copyright-protection tactics previously favored by Nicholas Sarkozy’s conservative government.

![Pierre Lescure's Twitter profile pic. (via @pierrelescure)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/05/pierre-l-320.jpg)

Pierre Lescure’s Twitter profile pic. (via @pierrelescure)

The case is laid out in grisly detail, in 80 individual arguments [comprising](http://culturecommunication.gouv.fr/Actualites/A-la-une/Culture-acte-2-80-propositions-sur-les-contenus-culturels-numeriques?ref=hyperallergic.com) 500 pages, but the gist of it is: France’s cultural patrimony, or at least its cultural bureaucracy, has been harmed by the diffusive powers of the web, and would very much benefit from a shot in the arm in the form of a tax on all internet-enabled devices. The Lescure report further suggests that the ideal rate is 1%, levied against all web-enabled hardware sold. This would generate revenues of €86 million (\~$110m) from an overall market estimated at €8.6 billion (\~$11b).

Of course, the report, which prompted one conservative politician to levy the familiar accusation that Mr. Lescure and the French left are “[high on taxes](http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2013/05/13/les-reactions-au-rapport-lescure%5F3180050%5F651865.html?ref=hyperallergic.com),” should be commended for its thorough reaction to an obvious problem, but the resulting decision to tax electronic hardware is plainly unrealistic. Though a state subsidy of the arts has an important role to play in democratic societies, and is an area in which the United States can certainly stand to learn a thing or two from Western Europe, a provocative proposal such as this one is just that — a high-visibility attempt at troubleshooting an issue for which there is no clear solution.

It’s the kind of thinking that would probably permanently end a politician’s career in the United States, but in France comes across as a proposal to be debated and discussed, if not implemented. As many advocates for an increased awareness of the costs of cultural production would likely agree, there is a balance to be struck between top-down state intervention and the cultivation of a behavioral shift at the grassroots level.

The Lescure report can be read as a defeatist and ham-fisted reaction to what should be an attempt at wide-scale correction in the consumption patterns of web denizens, and for that reason alone should fail. Nevertheless, the French government already charges a tax on digital storage for the very same purpose, and it raises €200 million (\~$257m) from that annually, so forget about encouraging small-scale artistic patronage and altruistic concert-going — it may very well be time for beleaguered copyright holders to consider Gallic relocations.