According to a press release from the office of Speaker of the House Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights), the Republican majority in the House of Delegates has stood up to the demagoguery of Democrats with a unanimous vote against the “Netflix tax.” On Monday, the House Finance Committee defeated the bill seeking to institute new taxes on streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, and Spotify.
House Bill 1051 introduced by Delegate Vivian Watts (D-Fairfax) was set to apply new communications sales and use taxes to streaming services for audio and visual data, as well as prepaid calling services. As stated in the language of the legislation, “The bill also clarifies that the tax applies to communications services regardless of whether customers are charged a subscription fee, a periodic fee, or an actual usage fee.”
Caucus Chairman Tim Hugo (R-Fairfax) proclaimed his disagreement on the measure after voting with his majority against the measure. “The people of Virginia don’t need higher taxes, especially on things such as Netflix. This bill would have disproportionately affect millennials who enjoy these streaming services, as well as every family who enjoys a movie night together at home,” he said.
Although millennials were one of the main reasons why Democrats gained 15 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates in 2017, they have found a friend in House Republicans who voted down the tax that would have affected them greatly. Over the last 15 years and subsequent General Assembly sessions that enjoyed a well-endowed Republican majority, $30 billion in tax increases have been voted down by the Republican-held House.
Democrats in the Virginia House continue to vote for crippling tax increases that affect hard-working Virginians. Considering millennials are known now as “cord cutters” and rely on streaming services to get their entertainment and news, the legislation would have added a large increase to their monthly bills from the “Netflix tax.”
“Constituents I hear from want government to find ways to save money and work more efficiently, not raise their taxes,” Delegate Hugo explained. “I’m not quite sure why my colleagues on the left keep trying to make hard working Virginians pay higher taxes,” he added.
