Chicago To Apply 9% 'Netflix Tax'

Forbes ^ | 07/09/2015 | Travis H. Brown

[SeekAndFind]

There should be small print on “Welcome to Chicago” signs – something along the lines of “businesses and innovators not actually welcome.” With its recent, growth-killing hike of the minimum wage and its ever-looming $20 billion pension hole, the Windy City finds itself at a major competitive disadvantage. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his Department of Finance just made matters worse with the introduction of new tax rules that will notably increase the cost of using popular streaming services like Netflix , Hulu, and Spotify.

Desperate for new revenue to fill its dwindling coffers, Chicago is applying a 9 percent tax to what official documents call “electronically delivered amusements” and “nonpossessory computer leases.” Together, this pair of new tax rules amount to a taxation on any city resident who accesses “the cloud” – a move that business owners, digital natives, and everyday consumers of streaming content are finding deeply troubling.

These intentionally broad new tax rules affect more than just Chicagoans who want to stream their favorite show on Netflix or play a new album on Spotify. The 9-percent hike also applies to businesses that use could services, such as realtors who access real-time listings and attorneys who rely on Internet court databases.

[Old Sarge]

“Tax the Internet” - but we were told this would not happen...

[Buckeye McFrog]

This is something which, sadly enough, COULD actually have politicians swinging from lampposts.

Never get between a Millenial and his Netflix. You won’t live to tell the tale.

[Old Sarge]

Never get between a Millenial and his Netflix. You won’t live to tell the tale.

[basil]

With Rahm Emanuel as their mayor, they will get what they deserve for putting this guy in office………...

[headstamp 2]

Perhaps they need a tax on bullets instead owing to their most popular recreational activity.

[ealgeone]

Don’t give’m the idea!

[reformedliberal]

So, how does this work? Are the streaming services/online storage services mandated to collect tax from IL residents and then turn it over to the state? While this is huge for businesses, a personal subscription to a streaming service is low-priced, so the tax amounts to maybe $10/year (ex:Amazon Prime).

I don’t live in IL and I avoid the Cloud. I back up on flash drives and stand alone off-line devices. If my state taxed my Netflix subscription, it would add under $2/month to my fee and I would hate it, but probably figure I was still getting a bargain. The principle is important, but the reality isn’t punitive for the retail consumer.

Oh, and how long before they add this tax to ebooks? I’ve noticed a media hate-on for Amazon Kindle recently.

[goodnesswins]

Washington state legislator has proposed just that...5c per

[EQAndyBuzz]

Here’s an idea Rahm. Now, it may get you thrown out of office, and it may lead to a massacre for your cronies.

From 20-30 years old, if you contribute to your pension, you get 1% match.
From 30-40 years old, if you contribute to your pension, you get a 3% match.
From 40-50 years old, if you contribute to your pension, you get 4%.
From 50-retirement, if you contribute to your pension, you get 5%.

If at any time you stop contributing to your pension, you lose your match. Any crime, you forfeit your pension.

Also, offer every city worker an automatic 20% increase in salary providing they leave the union, take the new healthcare options and work in a performance based system instead of the unions caste system.

Rahm, you will save billions and see the standard of living explode. As your tax revenues increase, you can offset that somewhat by reducing city taxes.

[Political Junkie Too]

Isn't this double taxation? Aren't people already paying a tax for their ISP? Now they also want to tax the data that streams across it? Just raise the tax on the ISP.

-PJ

[IYAS9YAS]

Now they also want to tax the data that streams across it? Just raise the tax on the ISP.

New Mexico has a gross receipts tax, not a sales tax. It's assessed on goods and services. So, yes, here in NM, we pay tax on Netflix service, whether streaming only, or streaming and DVD, or DVD only.

[__rvx86]

Yup...coming up next....the Obamanet tax structure...

[okie01]

With Rahm Emanuel as their mayor, they will get what they deserve for putting this guy in office………...

Ah, but consider their alternative: Jesus "Chuy" Garcia of the Teachers' Union.

Certainly no better, possibly worse...