Letter to the Editor: Rolison rails against Netflix tax

With less than two weeks until the state budget is due, some in the state capital are getting desperate. In particular, advocates for the struggling Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) want to balance its books by taxing your favorite audiobook. You read that correctly: the latest scheme by several of my colleagues in the Democrat-led Assembly is to levy an 8% tax to stream movies, TV, download e-books — basically any activity that involves a laptop and leisure time. Not only is this latest cash grab unfair, but it’s also not necessary to secure long-term funding for passenger rail, something which I strongly support.

Here’s how the new tax proposal would work. A 4% state sales tax and an additional 4% local sales tax would be applied to all of your digital-streaming purchases, including TV services, audiobooks, podcasts, online gaming, and music. On top of that Albany would levy a 25-cent delivery fee applied to both online and in-store purchases. This revenue would then be redirected to cover the MTA’s $1.6 billion deficit — without asking for fiscal accountability in return. A hefty new tax designed to bail out the MTA. No accountability from Albany. We’ve seen this Netflix movie before.

Last week, when lawmakers in both chambers introduced their one-house budget proposals, I was proud to partner with others to deliver an exemption on the MTA payroll tax in the Senate’s bill. Crossing the aisle to join with my Democratic colleagues, we carved out Dutchess, Putnam, and Orange counties from the tax’s 12-county region. Ultimately, however, the one-house proposal ignored my calls to include a comprehensive audit of the MTA’s broken finances, and I choose to vote no. Albany can’t manage what it cannot measure, and there is no excuse to hide expenditures and revenues from the public our government is supposed to serve.

Mass transit is too important to continue to play politics with its finances. The boom-and-bailout cycle must be broken. A new tax on Hulu and DoorDash is not going to improve on-time performance or keep passengers safe. We must do better, and this budget cycle is a chance to reform Albany’s derailed politics.