Slashdot Mirror
Buenos Aires Issues a 'Netflix Tax' For All Digital Entertainment
New submitter DoILookAmused writes A few years ago, the Argentinean government implemented a 35% tax on all offshore buys using a credit card. In yesterday's press release, the city of Buenos Aires announced it will charge a 3% gross income tax for all streaming or media purchase abroad allegedly to bring it to "competitive prices with local media companies". This tax doesn't supersede the national 35% tax, which has sparked several reactions.
Argentina!
Argentinian here.
Please understand that policy in Argentina is usually just the result of the guys on top wanting more hookers or coke. Usually both. There is no justification to these taxes whatsoever other than "we want to steal more money for ourselves, but we already stole everything in sight... so we need you idiots to put more money in this account here so we can steal it."
Argentina is very much like your neighborhood friendly African nation, only with less ebola and civil war.
For those who don't know, Argentina is on the brink of economic collapse yet again. Their occupying government has ruined the currency with wishful thinking as if it didn't just happen a decade or so ago. They've been trying to negotiate away all the bad debt they've run up and not everybody is letting them off the hook this time. Like good bureaucrats they're probably looking to tax anything that moves.
3% tax on Netflix? pfft - last time they confiscated pensions and retirement accounts. Oh, sorry, they didn't confiscate them, they replaced the negotiable cash value of them with government-backed bonds. Which rapidly fell to zero value.
FWIW, the US DoL floated an RFC on 'protecting' retirement accounts by replacing them with bonds a few years ago. Nobody should be undiversified in their retirement savings jurisdictions.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
a 35% tax on all offshore buys using a credit card
With that kind of tariff how long till all out of country purchases are made with bitcoin?
---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
Brazil is becoming Argentina
Argentina is becoming Venezuela
Venezuela is becoming Cuba
Note that the IRS has recently begun demanding much more information about IRA and 401K holdings, instead of just transactions outside the account. Seizing retirement accounts is being planned, and though it will be sold as taking from the "rich", a whole lot of middle class people are going to find themselves poor and at the mercy of politicians who threaten that the other party is going to take away their handouts.
Yep, that is pretty much what is going on.
And all with comu--, I mean, socialists in all spheres of power.
it's a blog, but he supposedly went through it: http://ferfal.blogspot.com/sea... to answer the above...Argentina already has capital controls. credit cards, foreign money, all that.
35% is not a tax. It is an income-tax prepayment.
Government refunds it with the income tax. And the people who does not pay income tax, can ask for a refund.
It is a stupid system, but it is not a tax.
To me, as an Argentinian, this 3% tax is logical. Netflix is doing business here, but they don't have an office here, they don't pay any tax for it, they don't create any jobs here, and that is wrong.
Local companies pay a lot more in taxes.
The standard sales tax (VAT) in Greece is currently 23% for most things. (It varies, but that's the most common.) That's on top of the punishing property taxes, income taxes, taxes because you left your money sitting in a bank, taxes because it's Monday, etc. I jest, but only a little.
For those of you living in the US, can you imagine 23% states sales tax on essentially everything?
Argentina has instituted what amounts to a 35% import duty. Yes, that's a lot, but most things are purchased domestically.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
35% Tax is a prepayment of income tax ("Impuesto a las ganancias") So, my credit card charges me that 35%, but then my employer discounts that from my income taxes. It is a stupid system, but not a new tax.
As for the 3%. All companies offering services here have to pay gross income taxes. Otherwise, every foreign company can come here, make profit and take it all to their home countries, leaving nothing for us. The netflix tax is tottaly fair.
I was playing Tropico 5 last night.
Coincidence? Inquiring minds want to know.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
Las Malvinas sin .... British!
Suck it up Argies!
I'm form Argentina and it saddens me that this post comments will fall among these categories:
Even the summary is wrong! That 35% is not a tax, just a pre-payment of the income tax that you can recover.
All hope is lost.
People cannot at the same time complain about debt and taxes. Debt is there because there is not enough taxes.
Of course the big question is who should be taxed. Someone reminds me what was the higher rate for income tax under Roosevelt?
the 35% on credit card purchases is actually an advance payment for income tax, it is taken into account when you do your tax return.
Thing is: Argentina shadow economy is on par with less developed countries. Nobody pay their taxes so it is kind of complicated for them to do their tax returns. Still you can fill some forms to get your money back, but... you guessed it, since a lot, sorry: A LOT of people evades like mad they are afraid to ask our IRS (AFIP) for their money back.
So in a way the people like me who pays their taxes are kind of happy that all the guys that evades since the old times are finally paying SOMETHING and afraid of do what needs to be done to get the money back.
You guys in USA could simply not understand the level of tax frauds and evasion that Argentina deals with.
Thousands and thousand of restaurants, professionals, shops avoiding accepting credit or debit cards and instead of giving you an invoice they give you papers with your bill.
Using credit cards is actually seen with disdain, carrying cash is seen as a sign of wealth.
Whenever you have a holiday A LOT of restaurants and other attractions for some reason (go figure) have a "problem with the system" and can not process credit or debit card, you are forced to pay in cash (and of course they dont give you a legal invoice)
It is like that since... ever.
"Although Argentina and Chile have similar levels of development, tax evasion differs markedly in the two nations. More than 85 percent of taxpayers in Argentina acknowledge that they cheated on their taxes during the previous year, and over 50 percent admit to failing to pay more than 20 percent of their legally owed taxes. In Chile, on the other hand, less than 20 percent of taxpayers admit to cheating on their taxes, and very rarely do they fail to pay less than 90 percent of their true tax dues. Income-tax noncompliance in Argentina exceeds 50 percent of legally expected revenues, and 35 to 50 percent of the expected revenue from the compliance-friendly VAT remains uncollected each year.
Tax evasion in Argentina is a well-entrenched phenomenon. In contrast to Chile or the United States, where many taxpayers report cheating in small amounts, taxpayers in Argentina participate in bold, large-scale evasion schemes. In Argentina, evading taxes is not a peripheral activity or a way to make a quick extra buck but rather an institutionalized behavior and a source of revenue deemed legitimate by Argentine society. Chileans also try to maximize benefits and reduce their taxes, yet most taxpayers do so within the margins of the law. Some participate in tax evasion, but the majority of taxpayers who cheat do so marginally.
The magnitude of tax evasion affects national prosperity. Whereas the lost revenues in Argentina exceed US$45 billion per year (15 percent of GDP), in Chile the estimated lost revenues are US$4.7 billion a year (less than 7 percent of GDP). In recent years, the Argentine government has spent more on controlling tax evasion than on programs for fighting poverty and unemployment. In order to collect taxes, Argentina spends three times as much as Chile and over four times as much as the United States. The budget of the tax administration is twice as large as that of the education department and almost three times larger than that of the social-welfare department."
Most of the argentineans that cries out loud about the 35% and look up to USA and think things like "something like this would never happen in USA" forget the fact that most of them would be in jail if they would want to do in USA the same thing they do here.
Finally even when this is a topic that I care about and I try to be as informed as I can, I have never heard of anyone going to jail for tax evasion in Argentina. Let aside something like the Wesley Snipes case in here, that is absolutelly impossible.
As a matter of fact there was a well known case some years ago involving one of the most famous and popular TV stars in argentina (Susana Gimenez) she imported a
"The only good bug is a taxed bug!"
- Rand M. Person
Today the bugs of Klendathu made their latest attack, this time a wave of new taxes on the poor innocent people of Buenos Ares. 98% of the population is presumed taxed at this point, but reports are still coming in of survivors being found amidst the wreckage and debris of this once beautiful economic destination.
What can you do to help?
Everyone has their part to play. Whether you send files via digital lockers to those in need, or simply share links with those poor souls in search of the latest Federation entertainment and news, every bit counts. Help today is another step on the road to ending the Bug menace for good.
The best way to help is to Enlist! Now more than ever the brave men and women of the Federation need YOU. And remember, enlistment means Citizenship.
Would You Like To Know More?
This is a smart move -- they won't see nearly as much of other countries undercutting their markets -- preventing the loss of domestic jobs and the outflow of non-government funds that US policies, for instance, have resulted in.
Kind of funny to see people complaining about them trying to protect their economy.
Guess I need to run wham-a-lart and buy some more inexpensive Japanese, Chinese and Korean stuff now. See you guys later.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
its not enforceable. A lot of these little ticky tacky taxes are very easy to bypass and it is effectively impossible to impose them if people are being sneaky about it.
For example, you create a paypal account or something, transfer some money into it, and you can probably convince netflix you're not from some region where they have to charge you that tax. The taxes are always collected by the retailer. So if you confuse them into thinking you're from somewhere else they'll not charge the tax.
I use methods like this to not pay California's state sales tax which is 10 percent.
On all large purchases, I buy from out of state and try to bounce the purchase through two retailers if the first one is going to charge me the state sales tax. I buy stuff this way all the time and almost never pay the state sales tax.
here someone is going to call me a bad person... whatever. Lower the tax and I won't be motivated to play these games.
This is what happens when you raise taxes too high. And you find this sort of behavior in all places where the tax is raised too high. Look at New York... they now have a black market for cigarettes because they raised the taxes so high for them that people can make money driving to New Hampshire, buying a load of cigarettes, and then selling them in New York at a fraction of the local price AND make a profit.
Those of you that love high taxes should really learn from this... if you raise them too high then smart people won't pay the taxes. Then you'll just be taxing idiots.
Keep the taxes reasonable and people will pay them. Be an asshole about it and get nothing.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
My favorite was when their National Bank burned to the ground by accident recently... supposedly.
My first thought was, um that isn't going to erase your debt you know, that is held by other banks...