‘This Christmas’ your gift from Chicago is 9% tax, even if ‘Home Alone’

Streaming holiday movies or music? Chicago taxes it as the same rate as enjoying the same thing in person. The 9% amusement tax has included streaming services since 2015.

The holiday season is meant for time with family and making special memories, but Chicago’s steep 9% amusement tax is a real scrooge.

The tax applies to movie theaters, concerts, and sporting events, and also to anyone who wants to stay home and simply stream a holiday movie.

Chicago’s 9% amusement tax extends to all “amusements that are delivered electronically.” If you stay home and watch a movie, you pay the same tax rate as you would if seeing it in theaters.

It’s not just Netflix and Hulu. Enjoying your favorite holiday music at home on Spotify, Apple Music or Pandora comes with the same 9% amusement tax per month. Chicago was the first city in the nation to apply such a tax to streaming services, according to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.

The city’s amusement tax generated $232 million in revenue during 2022, up from $146 million in 2015 when streaming services were first included. The only thing city politicians ever seem to have on their wish list is new ways to tax.

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Baking cookies in your home with Michael Bublé in the background is taxed at the same rate as buying a ticket to see him live with thousands of other people.

Large, in-person gatherings are indisputably amusement. They come with more people taking public transportation and the need for police to manage large crowds, but the same can’t be said for streaming services enjoyed from a living room.

Even more bizarre, digitally buying a movie or song isn’t considered amusement, just rentals and subscriptions. That makes buying “Home Alone” on DVD a tax loophole.

New York City is considering its own “Netflix tax.” Even if it passes it would be at a 4% rate, which is the same tax rate applied to concerts and sporting events. That’s less greedy than Chicago’s 9%.

As Chicago faces significant financial hurdles, increasing taxes can look like an easy solution. But city leaders need to reconsider the regressive and invasive nature of taxing home entertainment.

Chicago needs solutions that don't reach into residents' pockets, especially during the season of giving. The city’s finances frequently make the naughty list, but it doesn’t earn the right to treat residents like a scrooge.