iPod tax: Would you pay a $75 levy to compensate music artists?

Can you imagine paying an extra $75 "levy" on top of the sticker price of your next iPod or iPhone, to compensate artists for revenue lost to illegal file-sharing? The question itself may sound ridiculous, but to a Canadian trade group, it's no laughing matter.

Canada is weighing whether to impose such a levy -- or "tax," if you prefer -- on top of the base price of any mobile device that plays music as a way of compensating songwriters, publishers, producers and other artists. Of course, nothing like this could happen in the U.S. Could it?