Pennsylvania To Apply 6% 'Netflix Tax' (allflicks.net)

An anonymous reader writes: Governor Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania has signed into law a new revenue package that will require residents to pay a 6% sales tax on their streaming subscriptions. AllFlicks reports: "Though the term 'Netflix tax' has become popular, laws like this don't just affect Netflix -- they also affect competitors like Hulu and HBO Now. App purchases and ebooks are also affected. They recently decided on a hefty $31.5 billion budget, and they came up $1.3 billion short of paying for it. The government is trying to close that funding gap, and streaming subscribers are being stuck with the bill." Magazine and newspaper subscriptions, as well as digital versions of the Bible, will be exempt from the digital downloads tax, reports CBS Local News in Pittsburgh.

Comments

Religious Exemption

[BitZtream]

I watch Netflix religiously, surely that is cause for an exemption if the Bible gets one.

Re:Religious Exemption

[monkeyzoo]

No one should've modded you down!

This law is a flagrant F.U. to the separation of church and state...
"Digital versions of the Bible will be exempt from the digital downloads tax."

If they wanted an exemption that would do society some good, thye should exempt textbooks, but then kids might get exposed to more of that heretical "science."

Re:Religious Exemption

[R3d M3rcury]

I was just going to say, that doesn't sound fair. What about digital versions of the Talmud or the Koran or the Bhagavad-Vita?

Re:Religious Exemption

[bws111]

Except there does not appear to actually be such an exemption. It appears to have been made up, probably to generate outrage and hence clicks.

Here is what the state says the new changes are. It includes 'e-books and otherwise taxable printed matter'. It does not mention bibles anywhere.

So, bibles must not be 'otherwise taxable printed matter', right? Nope. Here is the list of what is taxable. The list starts on page 14. First item on the list is 'Books', and right under the heading is this statement. "Tax is imposed on books, stationery and stationery supplies, including Bibles and religious publications sold by religious groups."

Oh, and further down the list we find that textbooks are NON-TAXABLE.

Ok

[jfdavis668]

back to pirating content.

Sounds kinda illegal

[fustakrakich]

Doesn't this bump into the Internet Tax Freedom Act and the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015?

WTF PA?

[monkeyzoo]

Glad to see the separation of church and state is alive in well in the U S of A!!!
"...digital versions of the Bible will be exempt from the digital downloads tax"

If they wanted an exemption that would do society some good, they should exempt textbooks, but then kids might get exposed to more of that heretical "science."

Re:WTF PA?

[pthisis]

Glad to see the separation of church and state is alive in well in the U S of A!!!
"...digital versions of the Bible will be exempt from the digital downloads tax"

If they wanted an exemption that would do society some good, they should exempt textbooks, but then kids might get exposed to more of that heretical "science."

The summary is terrible.

Textbooks purchased from or through accredited schools are exempted. The Bible is not specifically exempted, but purchases by qualified charitable organizations, volunteer fire companies, religious organizations and nonprofit educational institutions are unless used in an unrelated business capacity--there's no particular preference for religious organizations over other social nonprofits, and nothing singling out particular religions.

The tax is not specifically on streaming video. It extends the state's 6% sales tax to online purchases--streaming video is included, as are video downloads, streaming and downloaded audio, and other online purchases like ebooks, apps, games, e-greeting cards, etc.

Compressed air tax

[The Grim Reefer]

Does this really surprise anyone since it's coming from the state with a compressed air tax?

Full Text

[fulldecent]

Full text of enacted bill.

FULL TITLE: Act 84 of 2016

EXPLANATION: http://www.revenue.pa.gov/Gene...

SUMMARY:
http://www.revenue.pa.gov/Gene...

FULL TEXT:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/c...

Re: any proxy sales soar

[UdoKeir]

The PA legislature has a Republican majority in both houses. So... Nice try?

Re:any proxy sales soar

[Anonymous Coward]

PA: "Hey Netflix, who is subscribing with a PA address?"
Netflix: "Fuck off, we're not in your taxing jurisdiction."

Re:any proxy sales soar

[rworne]

Watch that...

Not only can you get sued for pirating digital content, but now pirating can be considered a form of tax evasion too.

Alternative

[gumpish]

It would be amusing if Netflix et al. opted to take a small hit to their revenue and made their services free to all current customers in PA, thus denying the state the taxes they projected.