Chicago Adds 9 Percent Tax To Streaming Services

Starting Wednesday, Chicago residents will have to pay a nine percent tax to use streaming services such as Netflix, and remote databases like Lexis Nexis, The Chicago Tribune reports. The new tax stems out of a June ruling from the city’s Department of Finance that expands both Chicago’s “electronically delivered amusements” and “nonpossessory computer leases” tax to cover certain online services.

The expansion of “electronically delivered amusements” will effect users of media streaming services such as Spotify or Netflix. The latter tax will effect primarily businesses that use services like Amazon Web Services or YCharts.

“We already have a fair amount of expense with various regulations,” Shawn Carpenter, CEO and co-founder of the Chicago based financial software YCharts told the Tribune. “As more and more get added, it makes it that much tougher to do business.”

Source: Daily Caller