Democrats Introduce Proposed Legislation to Tax Netflix – UPDATE: Defeated

WRIC-TV recently aired a story about HB 1051 which would institute a tax on audio and video streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Pandora. The bill is one of several tax increases introduced by Democrats for the 2018 General Assembly Session.

Since 2003 the Republican-led Virginia House of Delegates has defeated more than $30 billion in tax increases.

WRIC-TV wrote:

Virginia lawmakers have put forth thousands of bills this General Assembly session.

One has opponents pressing pause.

HB 1051 would apply the Communications Sales and Use Tax to services related to the streaming of audio and visual data.

It’s been dubbed the “Netflix Tax.”

“The Democrats are bringing forth the Netflix Tax. They want to tax all the streaming services so that’s Netflix, Hulu, all the things that I think everybody under 30 and even some of us over 30 use. I think it’s a tragic mistake,” said Del. Tim Hugo (R-Fairfax).

It was introduced by Del. Vivian Watts (D-Fairfax).

“It’s all about fairness,” she said.

Right now, that tax already applies to things like cable TV and satellite radio.

But streaming services aren’t included.

Watch the video for the rest of the story.

The bill is set to go before a House committee this week.

UPDATE 1/29/2018: Jordan Pascale tweets that the so-called “Netflix tax” was defeated in committee, 20-0.