9% 'Cloud tax' jacks up Netflix bills in Chicago

[Elixer]

Welcome to Chicago - Land of the liberals
...
I'm taking bets - Chicago is the next Detroit in 15 years.

15 years? I bet in under 3 they are going to file for bankruptcy.
They don't have a way out from the hole the people in charge have dug.

 

[Anonemous]

So basically anytime you access the internet you'll get taxed...

 

[Ichinisan]

What happens when a state tries to tax this while your city already charges 9%?

What happens when I pay for Amazon Prime for the shipping only, having no intention to use the streaming music / streaming video services?

 

[PliotronX]

the electricity for your computer and tv increases carbon footprint.

next time walk to blockbuster.

also wanted to add, no taxes at all in canada.

netflix does NOT have a corporate entity here.

Logical fallacy there; the electricity is being used to power the TV/DVD/BR/PC for the product to be rented anyway. Aside from that, a modern processor is more energy efficient than a gas guzzling vehicle.

Further, Blockbuster is dead. At most you'll find a Redbox at a D's.

 

[vi edit]

And that's another reason I was happy to get da fuq outta Illinois.

 

[PokerGuy]

Liberalism strikes again......

 

[mrrman]

pick up an Android media streaming device...I pay nothing extra...I actully sell these on the side programmed

 

[Jeffg010]

Don't worry if it is not a "Cloud tax" it will be some other tax. Pittsburgh put in a Library tax $15 a year. Next thing you know there will be a tree tax every tree you have you must pay 10 bucks. It will never end with those tards.

And you people that only say it is $12 a year are the same people that complain when Comcast goes up 3 bucks a year.

 

[fitzhue]

And this is on top of the proposed 1% increase in sales tax for Cook County which will make the total sales tax for Chicago 10.25%...

 

[sdifox]

People are no longer renting @ blockbuster. Normally, a rental at B&M places like Blockbuster would charge the standard State and Local sales taxes.

With Netflix, everything is retreived from "The Cloud" and is often seen as a service, and not a sale. Thus it is normally in the sense not taxed. Well a lot of previous sales are being lost to cloud services, so obviously jurisdictions like Chicago want to dip their pin in that.

Whut? You have to pay sales tax on the monthly subscription fee.

 

[vi edit]

And all of this is in addition to 50% increase in income tax a few years ago AND some of the highest property taxes in the nation. Seriously, fuck that state.

 

[child of wonder]

lol @ Chicago and Illinois.

Corrupt shitholes.

 

[PliotronX]

lol @ Chicago and Illinois.

Corrupt shitholes.

And without the weather of California so it has zero redeeming qualities.

 

[CPA]

People are no longer renting @ blockbuster. Normally, a rental at B&M places like Blockbuster would charge the standard State and Local sales taxes.

With Netflix, everything is retreived from "The Cloud" and is often seen as a service, and not a sale. Thus it is normally in the sense not taxed. Well a lot of previous sales are being lost to cloud services, so obviously jurisdictions like Chicago want to dip their pin in that.

Read it again, Netflix is already assessing state and local sales taxes. This is an additional city tax.

 

[CPA]

Oh, and don't forget some of the highest taxes on gasoline in the nation, including, I kid you not, a tax on a tax.

 

[unokitty]

Chicago: My kind of taxing town (where The Cloud costs 9 percent more)

The Windy City..."amusement tax" [applies] to any activity that constitutes "watching electronically delivered television shows, movies or videos," "listening to electronically delivered music," or "participating in games, on-line or otherwise." [But] Chicago residents who prefer to download their music...are in luck: The change to the tax law doesn't apply.

A second new city ordinance [taxes] "nonpossessory computer leases," a legalese term for when people pay to access online services such as...databases...cloud storage and other services

 

[irishScott]

What exactly is Chicago known for nowadays? Donald Trump and Deep-Dish Pizza? Lol.

It's a decaying city. Chris Nolan chose it to represent Gotham for a reason, and it sure wasn't the taxes.

 

[vi edit]

What exactly is Chicago known for nowadays? Donald Trump and Deep-Dish Pizza? Lol.

It's a decaying city. Chris Nolan chose it to represent Gotham for a reason, and it sure wasn't the taxes.

IL is in trouble. It's hemorrhaging people at historical rates.

http://newsroom.niu.edu/2015/03/30/illinois-leads-nation-in-population-decline/

My family was 4 of those 10,000 last year. And these aren't chump jobs we're taking with us. Some friends of ours got sick of it and left last year too and he was a banker and his wife was a neurologist. My wife's pharmacy department saw 12 pharmacists move out of state in a year. Those are $120,000+ jobs each. Outside of Chicago, there isn't much of anything that interests younger generations. The older generations are retiring and getting the hell out of the cold ass winters and shitty hot summers for places like Florida that you can at least get a beach with your heat.

They keep raising and raising and raising taxes. And you get nothing in return. Meanwhile Indiana welcomes business with open arms.

 

[poofyhairguy]

The Windy City is blowing away the Clouds.

 

[Phoenix86]

IL is in trouble. It's hemorrhaging people at historical rates.

Need money
Raise taxes
Kill tax base

Repeat as needed or until bankruptcy.

 

[vi edit]

Need money
Raise taxes
Kill tax base

Repeat as needed or until bankruptcy.

Nah they just don't pay their bills. They owed my former employer about 26 million in Medicaid payments they didn't pay up. There were almost a billion dollars owed to various places that the state just basically said "Nah, sorry, not gonna pay...SUCKERS!".

If I do that a tax payer? Federal pound you in the ass penitentiary.

 

[Belegost]

To be clear, these are existing taxes on amusement and personal property leases (in most places that's covered in the "use" taxes) that are being extended to cover amusement and personal leases delivered via internet. The taxes are already charged for going to a concert or theater, or renting colo space in a datacenter based in Chicago.

To me this is an extension of Amazon/Newegg/etc. having to charge local sales taxes, it sucks, but it's hardly surprising as internet commerce increasingly displaces local commerce.

 

[SP33Demon]

Soon this country will consist of liberlulz 60% euro tax socialist paradise, and Texas. You'll find me in Texas.

 

[K1052]

To be clear, these are existing taxes on amusement and personal property leases (in most places that's covered in the "use" taxes) that are being extended to cover amusement and personal leases delivered via internet. The taxes are already charged for going to a concert or theater, or renting colo space in a datacenter based in Chicago.

To me this is an extension of Amazon/Newegg/etc. having to charge local sales taxes, it sucks, but it's hardly surprising as internet commerce increasingly displaces local commerce.

This basically. I'm actually surprised they hadn't been levying it already.

 

[K1052]

What exactly is Chicago known for nowadays? Donald Trump and Deep-Dish Pizza? Lol.

It's a decaying city. Chris Nolan chose it to represent Gotham for a reason, and it sure wasn't the taxes.

Wut?

He needed a large urban environment with lots of tall buildings. There are only about two places you can go for that and he shot in both of them.