Credit: DisneyIt happens much too frequently these days; streaming services such as Disney+ raise their prices each year to make up for their excessive amount of overwhelming content. At least there isn’t any state sales tax attached to the monthly subscription price, well, not yet.
Credit: Disney
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Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, Spotify, and Audible could see an 8% sales tax if members of the New York Assembly Majority get their way. The tax would be added to raise money for their state’s public transit system. The Assembly aims to raise $63 million by the end of 2027. Seeing how over 60% of all Americans have a streaming service, that industry may be the most profitable, one that has yet to be taxed.
Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes says this is just one small factor in the state’s request for more funding, and if you think it sounds desperate, she would agree. The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, New York’s public-benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in Buffalo counties, needs support. Local New Yorkers commented, “I can’t decide if it’s a good idea or not to go to the streaming sites, but I think public transportation is important.”
It is indeed vital seeing how more public transportation would lower carbon emissions. Yet, most people prefer to drive their own car. It’s not much different than any public transportation found across the country. Most public transit is underfunded due to low-quality service and low ridership. If this tax proposal passes, it might come to a state near you.
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“If you’re talking to somebody who drives a car who never needs to use a bus, then they’re probably going to say, ‘Why is there going to be a new tax?’ But if you talk to somebody who takes the bus everywhere, they go, they’re going to say, ‘Oh, yeah, we do need support for public transit,’ “Crystal Peoples-Stokes added.
With the rise in the cost of everything else, taking some of that and putting it into helpful services like public transit might not be the worse thing. After all, it seems like a fair trade to have a streaming service tax if it means helping lower carbon emissions. Your Disney+ may cost more, but it could be saving the planet.
Would you be okay with a tax on Disney+ if it meant lowering carbon emissions? Let Inside The Magic know in the comments.