Taxes may be levied unfairly and they may provide facilities that individuals don't use. However, they are for collective benefit, public ownership and with nominal charge for use, at most. In the case of recordable media levies, the law enriches a private industry to the detriment of the public, distorts a market to the detriment of the public and doesn't exempt us from further fees. Specifically, after you've bought one blank CDROM, you're not exempted from one album sale.

I also think it is a direct result of the power of the giants. In the US, the RIAA can sue individuals for large sums of money.

In Canada, you can't sue for any amount - you have to show damages. So if downloading a song was copyright infringement here, you would only be able to sue for the cost of the song.

So, it is in the recording association's to have a levy rather than to pursue individual legal action here.