The head honchos ...are demanding a tax levy to make up for consumers having the right to rip music from our own CDs
Were such a levy to enshrine in law the right for users to rip their CDs for legitimate purposes, I would support a suitably modest levy, but only on the above condition.
Such a regulation would have to include the provision that the record companies could not attempt to deprive me of this right by the use of techological methods to prevent ripping.