"Cloud tax" and decline of media sales!!!

[Martin_31]

I just stumbled upon this. DVD and Blu-ray sales have declined, and now a "cloud tax!"
Why you'll be paying a 'Netflix tax' soon http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-yo...61951515.html#
What do you forum users think about this?

[Al_The_Strange]

Sounds sucky, but I can understand why they're doing it. It makes me wonder if it'll drive customers away from streaming and back to physical, or back to regular broadcast TV, or something.

[xander]

I am shocked, I say shocked that the government would want to apply more taxes to large companies that may pass these onto consumers.

Meanwhile, I am here to report that sales of physical media in my house have not declined and show no signs of immediate change in the future.

[Canada]

Originally Posted by Martin_31

I just stumbled upon this. DVD and Blu-ray sales have declined, and now a "cloud tax!"
Why you'll be paying a 'Netflix tax' soon http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-yo...61951515.html#
What do you forum users think about this?

I think it is good personally.

G ST


Netflix is a service right.

[Tony208]

Only seems like a big deal for people who actually buy and rent a lot digitally. For most people, what's another 75 cents on the Netflix bill?

[AgentOrange]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Sounds sucky, but I can understand why they're doing it. It makes me wonder if it'll drive customers away from streaming and back to physical, or back to regular broadcast TV, or something.

I doubt the locals/state governments that are after these tax dollars really care to "restore" physical media.

Although that was (somewhat) the argument various states/taxing authorities use to justify taxing Amazon.com and similar internet sites - i.e. that taxing Amazon the same amount would "level the playing field" against local stores that were already taxed. I doubt it really had much of an impact, but whether it mattered or not the logic was completely sound there. In fact, the reality that people never understood was that whether Amazon.com collected the tax or not - they were actually supposed to be paying that sales tax as individuals anyway (although I'm sure 99.99999999% of people weren't remitting taxes on their own, technically that is what was supposed to be happening).

I think the reality is they are just looking to replace the lost tax revenue $$$. From a logic standpoint, this is a tougher argument to make than levying sales tax on Amazon.com purchases (since we are talking internet service,not a tangible good - and all kinds of taxes and fees are already levied on my internet service). I'd be more understanding if my internet and phone bill wasn't already like 10-15% in various taxes and fees.

[FlipperWasIrish]

Not crazy about it, but I do think it is reasonable.

[Coenskubrick]

It's a non-essential service. Why shouldn't it be taxed?

[dublinbluray108]

Luckily those of us in Ireland or in the UK wouldn't have to pay an extra tax here because we already pay VAT on accessing those services in the British Isles and in the EU.

Would people using VPNs to access US Netflix from other countries be taxed though for using streaming services from outside their home country?

[SuperNova2012]

Originally Posted by Tony208

Only seems like a big deal for people who actually buy and rent a lot digitally. For most people, what's another 75 cents on the Netflix bill?

Is that case or i heard that they want to tax per video stream, which equates to
tax per movie, per tv shows eps. just as if you buy them in the store.

[mrr1]

Originally Posted by Coenskubrick

It's a non-essential service.

Maybe to you.

[Coenskubrick]

Originally Posted by mrr1

Maybe to you.

It's home entertainment, not medicine or a tampon.

[Steedeel]

Yep, essential to me too! (not the tampon)

[size14d]

Oh well, Amazon is now taxed too.