Erie County, N.Y. (WBEN) - With a vote of 8-3, Erie County legislators voted Thursday afternoon on a resolution to call on New York State to not impose a tax on streaming services, like Netflix and Hulu.
The move comes following the proposed New York State Assembly's budget plan, where they propose a 4 percent state sales tax and a 4 percent local sales tax on digital subscription streaming services to raise money for mass transit systems where the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), in New York City, stands to benefit the most.
"Streaming services are already raising rates," said Legislator Frank Todaro. "In fact, residents in this state are already getting hit harder than ever because of inflation, and now this. Most of the money raised by this tax would go downstate to help fund the MTA which already has a massive operating budget. Why should we here in Erie County be paying for a New York City-based Transportation Authority?"
"We need to send a message to Albany, of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable," said Legislator Chris Greene. "And that's what we do here as legislators. Very often we might not be the ones that make that final decision, but our representatives in Albany do look to us for direction. It was great to see that the vast majority of legislators in the body support this resolution."
The 2023 operating budget for the MTA is $19.4 billion. Other transportation systems would also receive some of the funding, estimated to be about $46 million by 2027 under this plan.
Some legislators wanted to send this to committee to discuss it further. However, the state has to solidify the budget before April 1st, the start of the fiscal year, which is why they had to take a vote on it now.
Legislator Chair April Baskin, who voted against this resolution, says she's not in favor of raising taxes, but revenue has to come from somewhere.
"Sometimes things that happen in one portion of the state, tend to have an impact or be the catalyst for what happens across the state and when people are in need of adequate transportation, which is the quality of life, meaning, I believe legislators across the state need to have an understanding for that."
In addition to taxation of streaming services, New York State is also looking to tax audiobooks, podcasts, games and other digital products that are "electronically or digitally delivered, streamed or accessed."
