Monday, January 06, 2020

Democrats propose Netflix tax for Montgomery County

Democratic leaders in the Maryland General Assembly are poised to propose a new tax on the highly popular entertainment streaming services used by most Montgomery County residents. The officials announced the proposed tax quietly in a Friday news dump strategically arranged by The Washington Post, whose reporters were aware of the pending tax earlier in the week, another clear example of coordination between the Montgomery County political cartel and the Post.

Subscribers to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV, and other streaming services could find a hefty tax added to their bill as soon as this year. The Post reports that the new Netflix tax would be one of several new taxes slapped on residents of Montgomery County and the rest of the state to cover a new $6000-per-taxpayer spending hike for public education statewide. Montgomery County is already spending record amounts on public schools, and the County's own recent report shows that the declining school system has only gotten worse for all the high spending.

Now residents' Baby Yoda and You addictions are squarely in the tax crosshairs of the cartel. With property and income taxes at record highs, it is almost impossible for officials to add $6000 in hikes via those taxes. The county is now turning to these sin taxes, similar to those you pay on your cell phone service and the rain that falls in your home's yard, to get the same amount in sneakier ways. You may recall that the County floated a new Trash Tax in 2019, for example.

The Netflix tax will be hard to pass openly, however. Most of their constituents will be furious, and the tax will fall heaviest on young people, the poor and senior citizens - like all of "progressive" Montgomery County's regressive flat taxes.

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

define "hefty"

Robert Dyer said...

6:22: $6000 in new Kirwan Commission taxes on each person is certainly going to qualify as "hefty," old sport.

Anonymous said...

The question was, what is the specific tax proposed on streaming services? Not the yearly shortfall.

We cut the cord and only pay about $30 per month for all of our three streaming services, so for example, an 8% tax on all streaming services would cost us a whooping $2.40 per month or about $30 per year. Less the cost of a cheap meal for two. Certainly not a “hefty” burden.

Amazing how you can overreact to everything.

Skippy said...

Wow...this is what our Council considers a "sin tax"...streaming video services that everyone subscribes to in 2020.

Anonymous said...

I get it! It’s a photo of a blank screen, to prove how expensive and disastrous a small tax on streaming services would be. No Game of Thrones for you!

Tom Andrews said...

6:56am
People are very sensitive to even small increases in their streaming service sub prices. According to this study, even a $1 increase monthly would lead to some considering canceling or downgrading.

"Subscribers to streaming video services are sensitive to pricing – sensitive enough that Netflix's planned price hikes could lead to some defections.

Facing an increase of $1 more per month, as many as 16 percent of Netflix subscribers are likely to either downgrade to a lower tier plan or cancel the service altogether, finds a recent survey by The Diffusion Group."

"Netflix price increases could cause some subscribers to downgrade, cancel streaming service"
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2019/01/17/netflix-price-increase-may-lead-subscribers-downgrade-cancel/2602458002/

Robert Dyer said...

6:56: Most people seem to have all of the major streaming services. It will add up quickly.

You favor a Netflix tax?

Do you want to put in a good word for Barwood cab and the pleasant license renewal process at MVA while you're at it?

LOL

Anonymous said...

It's offensive that our Council would increase taxes and services people are using to replace hefty cable bills. Totally tone deaf.

Anonymous said...

I say lets tax everything at 100% ... run everyone out of the county.

Anonymous said...

UnsignedDyer @ 7:20 - this is not "the Council" and it is not just about Montgomery County. The proposal is by the STATE legislators regarding the STATE sale tax which is paid throughout the entire STATE.

Here is a link to the Post's article from last week so you don't have to rely on Dyer's game of "Telephone".

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/leading-maryland-democrats-no-income-property-or-sales-tax-hikes-in-2020/2020/01/03/cb4152d2-2daa-11ea-bcd4-24597950008f_story.html

Anonymous said...

7:35am
Got it. I then assume our Council will strongly push back on this proposal to tax Netflix and Disney+ subs?

Anonymous said...

[Not-So-]Anonymous said...
7:35am
Got it. I then assume our Council will strongly push back on this proposal to tax Netflix and Disney+ subs?

7:36 AM

LOL

Dole said...

Taxing Netflix and Disney+? Damn, this is hitting people where it hurts.

Anonymous said...

The very first paragraph of the Post's article:

"Maryland’s new legislative leaders flatly ruled out raising income, property or sales tax rates this year to pay for sweeping education measures."

Also, the article cites outgoing Maryland Senate President Mike Miller (Prince George's County), incoming Senate President Bill Ferguson (Baltimore City), House of Delegates Speaker Adrienne Jones (Baltimore County), and an unnamed spokesman for Governor Larry Hogan, who declined to comment.

NOTHING to do with the Montgomery County Council.

Roald said...

Releasing bad news or documents on a Friday afternoon in an attempt to avoid scrutiny is often called a “Friday news dump”

Anonymous said...

"Montgomery County's regressive flat taxes"

Dyer, if you oppose regressive taxes why are you so against high taxes on high earners? You can't have it both ways.

Dole said...

Weird watching folks try and defend a new tax on Netflix and Disney+ subs.

Gotta twist in a pretzel to support this one.

Anonymous said...

I asked you to prove it. Break it down line item by line item. Instead you deleted my question. Why? Because you are full of crap. All shrill but no substance. So Old Sport you prove once again what a shallow little brat you are.

Anonymous said...

In a perfect world, taxes should equal services. Want better schools, more teachers, less crowding, pay more school tax. Want better parks, or fire protection, or police protection, then someone has to pay more taxes. If everyone pays $30 dollar a year for streaming services, and this can directly be applied to better schools, yes I would still use streaming services, and yes I would pay a bit more for them.

If we require developers to pay a fee in the form of a Park Improvement Payment as one of the requirements to build more density, most developers would likely find this form of “developer taxation” as an equitable idea.

Anonymous said...

8:23 AM What specifically is Dyer "lying" about? A new tax is proposed. It's another insane idea, but it is what it is.

Anonymous said...

Because Robert manipulated it to imply it was the County and his fictional “cartel” behind the tax. Robert lies so much he doesn’t even notice because he believes his own BS

Anonymous said...

8:50 AM
Dyer's first graph starts with:
"Democratic leaders in the Maryland General Assembly"

He doesn't say MoCo Council. How much clearer can he be?
There's no lying.

Anonymous said...

Pizza time! It's Monday night so it's PIZZA TIME! Wooooooo PIZZA time :)

Anonymous said...

Updating sales tax to include digital purchases is a common sense action that is - if anything - overdue.

Anonymous said...

I really wish that Republicans didn't cap the state/local tax deduction. That, more than anything else in recent memory, negatively affects those of us in MoCo.

Anna said...

I was wondering how they were gonna replace all the lost revenue from the cord cutters.

Anna said...

9:32 AM - Yup - to make up for the lost tax revenue from people no longer buying a sales-taxable physical property.

Roald said...

Looking forward to it

Anonymous said...

Skippy said...

"Wow...this is what our Council considers a 'sin tax'...streaming video services that everyone subscribes to in 2020."

Skippy - This is not about the County Council. It is about the state legislature considering a state-wide tax.

And the only one calling it a "sin tax" is your boy Dyer.

Anonymous said...

If you can dream it Hans can tax it.

Anonymous said...

There are other states that already do this, including some red states. It's not exclusively a MoCo thing, or even a Democrat thing.

Anonymous said...

It's common sense that buying a physical DVD and buying a digital DVD would both have the same sales tax. Anything else is completely unfair to brick and mortar businesses in MoCo. It's not a red v. blue issue so much as it's an educated v. Dyer issue.

Dole said...

4:54 PM Oh, yes, anyone mentioning the two most popular streaming services must be the same person, you say...lol.

You want to argue about anything other than the topic at hand. Troll 101.

Anonymous said...

Anyone else visit the block? Place is a ghost town at all hours. Always a bad sign when you see the staff on laptops doing yield calculations :(