Georgia lawmakers are pushing for a tax on digital video, books, music and video games…
That means residents of the states would Netflix, Chill, and pay … they would pay more for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Kindle e-books, iTunes music, Spotify and internet phone services.
Those who are already connected would pay the price: They’d bear the cost of the 4 percent tax, but its benefits would go toward rural residents who lack high-speed access to online products..
And who, you may ask, also wants the tax?
LOBBYISTS!
Nearly 60 lobbyists for cable, TV and cellphone companies are making an argument that it’s only fair that every service be taxed equally. Currently, various taxes and fees cover cable TV and phones but not satellite TV and internet video.
The resistance comes from legislators who oppose new taxes, consumers who would pay the tax and Dish TV, which doesn’t stand to benefit from government funding of rural internet since it already provides satellite-based online access to those areas. Before a similar digital tax proposal failed last year, Dish TV ran TV ads urging viewers to “Stop the Georgia TV tax!”
Meanwhile if you, as a viewer and service purchaser, ends up paying taxes for viewing hit bingeworthy shows, consider this:
