Chicago Implementing 9% Entertainment Tax on Video Games
62 replies, posted
Maybe I like taxes because they fund important shit?
Okay so how much extra does it have to be before consumers are allowed to complain, officer?
The money generated from this wont be used to fund anything though.
Chicago has a massive issue with money management and it still will with this.
The money will be wasted like it already is with their other taxes.
The solution isn't more tax streams, its fixing the original issue. Solve the problem not the symptom.
when we're dealing with increasing wealth inequality it seems really strange to create new taxes that will disproportionately affect lower income people
like you frame it as "you're already spending x amount of money on a luxury" but for a lot of people, even extremely poor people, videogames are their primary source of entertainment and that 60$ is all they were planning on spending for the next few months.
And I'm sure you can explain to the rest of the class what these taxes are used for, I mean, why else would you say you like them because they fund important shit, if you don't know what that important shit is.
this is like barely a degree away from "if you're poor and you don't live off of lentils and rice you have 0 right to complain when you don't have money"
like, I'm sorry people don't want to live like namibian refugees? I'm sorry people want to enjoy their lives sometimes even if they're poor?
Chicago motivating gamers to take Call of Duty to the streets
That's not an excuse to just increase the cost of goods willy nilly.
I think taxes can be good too, but there should still be some actual thought put into them. Not just 'oh you can afford a $60 game - well then a $65 game should be no problem' as if poorer folks don't have it hard enough finding the time and money to enjoy themselves.
Dude, you do realize that excess taxes are almost always used for useless shit. And Chicago has notoriously corrupt politicians. Don't expect them to spend that money on anything else except new additions to government offices, premier desks, floors, and the whole nine yards. I would be okay if they did that if Chicago was functioning properly and was safe... but it's not at all.
On one hand, for the longest time online goods have avoided taxes. On the other, this is a specific city with money issues. I'm not entirely sure how to feel about this.
this is absolutely nothing more than Chicago going "oh shit we're running out of money again how can we get more" and going with the easiest option
yet another reason everybody's leaving Illinois
hahahahahaha you don't live in chicago do you. The most important thing my taxes go to is somebody else's pocket
Tax rich businesses, nah just tax the consumers lmao
Do you actually have a job? Cause with the cost of living in a lot of places shit like this really adds up. You don't add tax on top of tax on top of tax on top of tax. That only ends up hurting those who can least afford it. Fewer large progressive tax setups is superior to nickel and diming people to death.
it's 12% up here in BC.
Seeing americans bitching about how expensive things are is amazing. If you want entertainment, try to get an american to complain about gas prices in the same room as someone from england, there's usually no survivors.
Not sure if you saw, this is in illinois so...
You would think Chicago would want people to stay entertained so they have another weekend without someone being murdered.
First the pop tax, which was removed, now this. Stop taxing, and fix the money management issues.
Oh whoops, you're having 30% more fun than your funcap allow you. You need to pay more to get more fun. Pay our new FunFunFun offers for the low prices of 10 F-Buck.
Yeah any kind of sales tax disproportionately hurts lower incomes.
says someone who has probably never had a job in their life
taxes make the poor poorer, and have always been shown to reduce the quality of life of those who earn less
if they taxxed higher tax brackets then sure, i could care less(so long as it doesn't cause jobs to move out of the area), but putting arbitrary taxes on shit isn't good for the economic health of any area.
in addition, half the time your taxes is going to a government that spends it on fucking cheese that they dump it into a cave. i doubt you would gladly put your money into a corrupt entity so frivolously.
Well, arguably Americans have to drive more. America is much more rural and lacks good public transportation. We couldn't afford such a high gas tax, because alternatives do not exist.
I work but thanks for assuming things.
Anyway I'd didn't realize Chicago was so corrupt and y'all are right to point out that the poor shouldn't be taxed more heavily right now. I wasn't thinking straight, consider my point conceded
well the sales tax is presumably applied on top of the entertainment tax, and prices are rising across the country on account of the tariffs and we also go bankrupt on a daily basis from medical bills so I'll take higher sales tax if it meant the betterment of society but it doesn't here
27% standard VAT rate reporting in...
This is not a new tax! The amusement tax is rather old and vague. Sony alone is just recently deciding to adhere to it.
IANAL, but I read the Municipal Code of Chicago title 4-156, and most of this just applies to public amusements, such as city tours, theater, concerts, Cubs & Bears games, that sort of thing. The amusement tax in general has existed since 1991, and it shows its age, as it also mentions arcades, i.e. games that require physical payment to start. It doesn't even mention private/console video games specifically. This recent uproar is from this 2015 amendment to the rule. Look closely, it says "does not apply to sales of [...] videos, music, or games, it applies only to rentals". It also mentions audio and video streaming by name, which explains why Netflix and Spotify were hit. I guess PSN is games-as-a-service similarly, so it's more at risk than your physical Switch game collection, for example. I am assuming Sony is just protecting themselves. Back in May, Netflix and some local lawyers tried and failed to sue the city. But more recently in August, Apple filed their own complaint with the city saying it's unconstitutional, among other things. This is all bad, but it's not as bad as you think.
I won't riot until my FFXIV sub goes up.
Liberal cities always have the highest tax rates because it's supposed to pay for more social programs, but in Chicago is just goes to the mayor's pockets.
Except I thought that the usually had progressive income taxes, not insanely high sales taxes. Because as other people have pointed out, high sales taxes are hardest on low-income people, who social programs are supposed to help. So it's counter productive to have social programs if the people they're for are still reeling from having to pay 10 additional cents per dollar on every purchase.
It's true that tax rates are higher in Canada and the UK (where I live), but we at least get universal healthcare and better social programs out of it.
However, I agree with most here that this so-called 'amusement tax' is bullshit. I think surplus taxing things for health reasons, such as tobacco and alcohol, is reasonable, but sales tax will always be regressive, and I'd much prefer increasing capital gains taxes, or something like the estate tax.
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