While collectors benefit from the re-sale of early works, the artist gets nothing. The right of following sale insures a percentage of all subsequent sales go back to the artist. PLRs assume the public benefits from libraries but authors suffer lost sales. Therefore, market failure exists justifying a public policy response. PLRs compensate authors from a special federal fund.
Payment is capped so no one author receives too much.
Payment is restricted to Canadians and goes directly to the creator. The exemption applies only to individuals, not to corporations. The result has been an influx of creative talent who pay sales and other taxes offsetting the tax expenditure to the public treasury. In addition, such talent enriches the cultural as well as economic life of the country. This is reflected in federal subsidies to universities.