Buenos Aires Issues a 'Netflix Tax' For All Digital Entertainment 165
New submitter DoILookAmused writes A few years ago, the Argentinean government implemented a 35% tax on all offshore buys using a credit card. In yesterday's press release, the city of Buenos Aires announced it will charge a 3% gross income tax for all streaming or media purchase abroad allegedly to bring it to "competitive prices with local media companies". This tax doesn't supersede the national 35% tax, which has sparked several reactions.
Oh, Argentina (Score:5, Informative)
For those who don't know, Argentina is on the brink of economic collapse yet again. Their occupying government has ruined the currency with wishful thinking as if it didn't just happen a decade or so ago. They've been trying to negotiate away all the bad debt they've run up and not everybody is letting them off the hook this time. Like good bureaucrats they're probably looking to tax anything that moves.
3% tax on Netflix? pfft - last time they confiscated pensions and retirement accounts. Oh, sorry, they didn't confiscate them, they replaced the negotiable cash value of them with government-backed bonds. Which rapidly fell to zero value.
FWIW, the US DoL floated an RFC on 'protecting' retirement accounts by replacing them with bonds a few years ago. Nobody should be undiversified in their retirement savings jurisdictions.
35% Tax is not a tax (Score:3, Informative)
35% Tax is a prepayment of income tax ("Impuesto a las ganancias") So, my credit card charges me that 35%, but then my employer discounts that from my income taxes. It is a stupid system, but not a new tax.
As for the 3%. All companies offering services here have to pay gross income taxes. Otherwise, every foreign company can come here, make profit and take it all to their home countries, leaving nothing for us. The netflix tax is tottaly fair.
Re:To the slashdotters of the world (Score:2, Informative)
I'm from Argentina and... Oh, god, please someone mod this BS message down!
Argentina has one of the highest Human Development Index values: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Re:Oh, Argentina (Score:4, Informative)
Argentina was forced by some creditors to sign agreements giving jurisdiction to US courts because the creditors did not trust Argentinian courts. Argentina bartered their sovereignty on the issue for better credit terms, now they are crying because they are being held to those terms by a court that is not corrupt and subject to their own control.
This whole deal shows the world that:
1. If you're selling bonds and plan on ripping everybody off, do not mess with US courts because they are not scared of your shithole government and they will confiscate your "sovereign" asse(t)s
2. If you're buying bonds from risky countries, do so under a stable jurisdiction like the US otherwise you can be completely screwed by some populist who thinks you're a criminal because you bought what they were voluntarily selling