PlayStation Begins Collecting Amusement Tax From Chicago Users (chicagotribune.com)

schwit1 writes: PlayStation users in Chicago on Wednesday began paying a 9 percent tax on streaming content as the gaming company starts complying with a city levy. The Sony-owned company joins other streaming services including Spotify, Netflix and Hulu in complying with the charge, which took effect three years ago. The city's amusement tax, which used to apply mostly to concert and sporting event tickets, was extended to include streaming services in 2015. That includes charges paid for playing games, according to Chicago's Finance Department. Some tech companies have fought the additional 9 percent charge. Apple filed a lawsuit against the city in August alleging the tax on its music streaming services was illegal and discriminatory. That suit is pending in Cook County Circuit Court. Meanwhile, Apple is not collecting the tax. In 2015, a group of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify, XBox Live and Hulu users sued Chicago in Cook County, alleging the tax violates federal law. The judge ruled in the city's favor in May, and the streaming service users appealed the decision. The case is pending in state Appellate Court.

Comments

Wrong name

[nospam007]

Because Chicago users are not amused about this.

Re:Wrong name

[Dan East]

I've always wondered how Obama managed to thrive in the Chicago political environment, rising through the ranks in Chicago from community organizer, to the State Senate (representing Chicago), then to the US Senate (and then of course on to President) and remain so squeaky clean.

Re:The good old Sin Tax.

[mjwx]

Just like taxes on Gasoline, Cigarettes, Alcohol and Gambling. This is just an other Sin tax

Petrol is a sin? When did this happen. I cant remember the part of the bible that said, "Thou shalt not engineer the combustion of internals".

The word you're looking for is "soft target". Gamers will not garner any sympathy from the majority, same as smokers, drinkers, gamblers and drivers. This makes it a soft target, not a sin.

Sin taxes refer explicitly to vices, drinking, smoking, gambling, pornography and the like.

The thing is, going after soft targets almost never gets as much cash as they hope for, in fact they rarely generate enough money to justify their existence like the "soft drink tax" here in the UK.

lol

[cascadingstylesheet]

Young gamers look up from screen ...

"Hey, I thought socialism meant that other people paid more. WTF???"

Shouldn't that depend on the game you buy?

[SuperKendall]

There have been a number of games I've bought in the past that brought no amusement whatsoever.

I'm thinking something like a tax refund if the game you buy gets below 50% on Metacritic.