RadioActive wrote:

If you buy it or view it online from one of the big guys down south, it's going to cost you more starting - when else? - Canada Day. 

"Everything from app store purchases to Netflix subscriptions to items purchased on Amazon could be hit under the new proposals, which are scheduled to be in force from July onwards."

Ottawa to impose ‘fair share’ of tax on digital giants including Netflix, Amazon and Airbnb

The tax on Netflix will be hardly anything.  We'll live.
 

On a $15 subscription it's $1.95.

Prod Guy wrote:

On a $15 subscription it's $1.95.

Although these services should pay "their fair share", the tax is collected by the service and submitted to the government, which means the tax is really a burden on the consumer, not the service.  Further, although the tax seems like "hardly anything" when viewed from a small dollar perspective, it's really a 13% levy, which when applied across a large spectrum of services, can (will) amount to a very large sum.

Frankly, this won't affect me. I don't subscribe to any of the services involved. But I worry that while it may only be $1.95 now, that's at the beginning. I suspect this will be another sin tax like alcohol and cigarettes. Whenever they need more money, just up the thing by another few cents - and another, and another and...

Last edited by RadioActive (December 1, 2020 9:52 am)

RadioActive wrote:

Frankly, this won't affect me. I don't subscribe to any of the services involved. But I worry that while it may only be $1.95 now, that's at the beginning. I suspect this will be another sin tax like alcohol and cigarettes. Whenever they need more money, just up the thing by another few cents - and another, and another and...

Comparing Netflix, Amazon or Disney+ to alcohol and cigarettes (sin taxes) is a stretch and not logical.  Subscribing to these or other services isn't hazardous to your health.  Hospitals don't normally have patients that need expensive medical procedures or in ICU from watching Netflix or Goofy and Mickey Mouse on Disney+.  It is high time that all of the services are taxed the same.   Will the cost go up for customers?   More than likely, even though these very profitable companies could easily absorb some or all of the cost.  

I pay tax on my Bell invoice.  Why wouldn't I pay the same tax for Netflix?