If you live in the city of Chicago, then you are already familiar with the city’s “Amusement Tax.” For those of us who don’t live there and are not too familiar, the city has imposed 9% tax on amusement such as basketball games, and that will now include streaming services such as NetFlix!
It definitely does not seem fair that residents of Chicago are being charged more for things that would like to enjoy. Chicago has already had an “Amusement Tax” in place and that affects the sales price of things like a Bulls game or even going to the movie theatre. Residents there face an additional 9% in the price they pay to attend things like this and now city officials have decided to include this type of tax on streaming services as well and it is being categorized as “Digital Sales Tax.”
I guess when you’ve lived in Chicago for your entire life, the fact that prices to have fun or relax are inflated when comparing to the rest of the country is not that much of a deal. But imagine if you moved to Chicago and then have to face those inflated prices? I would be pretty pissed off, honestly.
Services such as NetFlix and Spotify are now being taxed by the city. This means, your typical $7.99 NetFlix subscription is now going to rise to $8.71; and though it may not seem like such a big deal, the city of Chicago expects to make over $12 million in revenue from the expansion of the “Amusement Tax.”
It seems that this digital sales tax may be expanding throughout the country as over 24 states already have the tax in place. I would not be at all surprised if it happens to take the entire country at some point as well.
Source: CNN
