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Will You Have to Pay the Netflix Tax?
The Hill ^ | 12/16/2018 | Kristin Tate

Posted on 12/17/2018 8:12:57 AM PST by therightliveswithus

Chicago has won a legal battle allowing its wasteful “amusement tax” to be levied on everyday people. Residents who enjoy gaming will now have to pay a 9 percent tax for streaming services they buy through Playstation. They also have to pay this 9 percent tax on other streaming services for entertainment like Netflix, Spotify, and Hulu. The amusement tax is one of multiple examples of government using its ability to pick the pockets of the populace to select winners and losers in the market while paying its bills with money that citizens often do not realize they are spending.

The Windy City originally passed its amusement tax in 2015, not through the democratic process, mind you, but through backdoor bureaucratic means. Elected officials on the Chicago City Council never touched the proposal. Instead, it was passed by diktat through the Chicago Finance Department. Although a higher court may find the tax unconstitutional in the future, it was recently upheld by the Circuit Court of Cook County.

(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: california; chicago; cutthecable; cutthecord; icann; netflix; netflixtax; taxes; vpn
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To: Bubba Ho-Tep
"One is that the studios that once licensed their content to them (and Amazon) are taking it away, with plans to start their own streaming services"

I think that's why Netflix has been cancelling all the Marvel series they produced. My son said Disney bought Marvel, and the only way you'll be able to see any Marvel movies in the future, besides at the theater, will be on Disney's pay channel.

41 posted on 12/17/2018 10:11:36 AM PST by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
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To: therightliveswithus

If it amuses the government, they will tax you.


42 posted on 12/17/2018 10:35:06 AM PST by fruser1
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To: AF_Blue

I drive by five distilleries every day on my way to work. When I first started my commute I kept thinking, at a certain place in my commute, that someone had a leak in their coolant system until I realized I was smelling the alcohol in the air from the distillery.


43 posted on 12/17/2018 11:05:28 AM PST by cuban leaf
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To: mass55th

That may be. I only know about KY.


44 posted on 12/17/2018 11:06:30 AM PST by cuban leaf
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To: thoughtomator

I have been watching a lot of Korean and Japanese movies and TV programs.

There are so many excellent hours of viewing available. The Koreans even blur out the gore on the TV shows and I have never seen any sexy scenes at all. Good! I am so sick and tired of the needless sex scenes on western TV. It’s just pointless filler.


45 posted on 12/17/2018 11:09:13 AM PST by warsaw44
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To: bert

Agreed: just because that idiot and his wife are working with Netflix doesn’t mean I’ll cancel the service.

There are some exceptional programs on Netflix.


46 posted on 12/17/2018 11:10:47 AM PST by warsaw44
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To: cuban leaf
FYI.......

go to the distilleries one day and look at the trees and maybe the buildings.

They are black. They are coated with a fungus that grows in an atmosphere rich in CO2.

The distillation process releases prodigious quantities of CO2.

47 posted on 12/17/2018 11:11:06 AM PST by bert ( (KE. N.P. N.C. +12) Invade Honduras. Provide a military government)
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To: cuban leaf

Usually it’s the yeast fermentation smell that is noticeable. Smells somewhat like homemade bread. Alcohol smell dissipates quickly.


48 posted on 12/17/2018 11:11:49 AM PST by jjotto (Next week, BOOM!, for sure!)
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To: wattojawa
Ping.


49 posted on 12/17/2018 11:13:33 AM PST by lightman (Obama's legacy in 13 letters: BLM, ISIS, & ANTIFA. New axis of evil.)
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To: warsaw44

I’ll stick with Netflix too.

If a product delivers what I want I really don’t care about the politics of the provider of that service.

.


50 posted on 12/17/2018 11:15:11 AM PST by Mears
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To: warsaw44

One of my favorite Japanese animes (RE:Zero) has quite a number of romance storylines in it, yet out of 12 full hours of screen time there is exactly ONE displayed act of sexual affection, and that is a 2-second kiss in a flashback scene of a wedding, the groom kissing the bride. And that’s it, full stop - even though the show is rife with sexual overtones due to all the romance plots.

I think I had my fill of graphic sexual media by the time the rush of puberty faded. I find on-screen sexual activity to be a red flag that the producers know they’re producing garbage and need to sex it up to sell it. Good stories don’t need that at all.


51 posted on 12/17/2018 11:16:43 AM PST by thoughtomator (Number of arrested coup conspirators to date: 2)
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To: bert

Yes. I drove through an “iffy” neighborhood in Bardstown and there were cars parked in driveways that had not been driven for a while that were black with the stuff. Even the windows.


52 posted on 12/17/2018 11:17:17 AM PST by cuban leaf
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To: bert

The buildings in which they store the barrels are black at the bottom (two to six feet) from the stuff as well.

But I was surprised to see so much of it in residential neighborhoods.


53 posted on 12/17/2018 11:18:24 AM PST by cuban leaf
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To: cuban leaf

Several years before I retired, I had thought of retiring to South Carolina, but then I found out they would tax my State pension, and changed my mind. Having worked for NY State, I paid the taxes on the money that went into my pension fund when I earned it, so I don’t pay State tax on it when it’s disbursed to me, or when I file my taxes. I never end up owing any State taxes, but have to file the required form each year.


54 posted on 12/17/2018 11:19:49 AM PST by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
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To: therightliveswithus

Democrats never saw anything they didn’t want to tax.


55 posted on 12/17/2018 11:23:24 AM PST by Retvet (Retvet)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Netflix will collect the tax.


56 posted on 12/17/2018 11:24:34 AM PST by CodeToad ( Hating on Trump is hating on me and America!.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

VPNs are very cool and good ones are as cheap as 34$ per year. I don’t use or pay for any VPN for so called down loading and torr.ents. Opera browser has a free built in VPN option if you go to dodgy websites. I find this useful 3x monthly when getting past a news site paywall.


57 posted on 12/17/2018 11:32:45 AM PST by dennisw
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To: warsaw44
There are so many excellent hours of viewing available. The Koreans even blur out the gore on the TV shows and I have never seen any sexy scenes at all. Good! I am so sick and tired of the needless sex scenes on western TV. It’s just pointless filler.

I prefer the preceding romance-dance. When the sex scene comes I am good for 30 seconds then I fast forward. If available in that situation...obviously not in your movie theater.. Matter of fact there was good sex scene on Ray Donovan last Sunday. It was very nice (lovely girl!) and gone in 20 seconds. So I did not need fast forwarding ... The guy who invented fast forward should get the Nobel Prize.

58 posted on 12/17/2018 11:44:05 AM PST by dennisw
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To: billorites

My VPN PIA is the best $50 I spend every year.

My computer travels the world. Love that little green man. I get lazy with the phone app unless I’m on public Wi-Fi.


59 posted on 12/17/2018 11:44:34 AM PST by Stentor
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To: dennisw

agree about fast forward I have directv. when i stream old programs from on demand the previous programs won’t allow fast forward through the commercials.


60 posted on 12/17/2018 11:49:03 AM PST by morphing libertarian (Use Comey's Report; Indict Hillary now. --- Proud Smelly Walmart Deplorable)
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