3 ms·

'Netflix levy' would 'price out' consumers

paxys 2y ago
"Tax" and "levy" are bad words. Instead call it a "tariff on foreign goods" and suddenly everyone will be in favor.
- cj 2y ago
  The consensus on tariffs in the US is negative (nearly) across the board. More accurate would be “A small group of powerful people will be in favor”
  - soupfordummies 2y ago
    Yeah, sure, NOW! Old orange has been talking about them for months and there was all kinds of positive spin from the MAGA crowd. It's only now that he's actually gone and done the thing and the consequences are already showing that people are saying "wait a minute..."
    - cj 2y ago
      And I don’t blame those people. That was his modus operandi for 5+ years. My theory is many people who voted for him, didn’t think he would actually do everything he said he was going to do, since he has a reputation for not following through with his promises. This time is way different. He actually appears to be doing what he says he’s going to do. That’s a major change from his behavior last term.
      - spwa4 2y ago
        What Trump and GOP said they'd do closely followed "project 2025" and the top level of tariffs proposed in that text was 10% ... and that was on China. Trump is levying a 35% tariff on the penguins of Heard and McDonald Islands. No humans present, and also no clarification by the administration on who exactly is being taxed here ... Trouble is, Trump is still popular. This pain will filter through the economy, but one would expect, it will filter through slowly. It may take 6 months, even 12 before it will really turn republican voters against Trump due to personal hardship.
      - SR2Z 2y ago
        Voting for a tiger who proposes eating you because he's bad at eating people is... an interesting electoral strategy. I could use stronger words, but I think you see my point.
Arainach 2y ago
"Deputy Byrne said was no intention to pass the levy on to Irish customers, but it was to be absorbed by the streamers" How do people keep saying things like this? Is there a single historical example where a business just ate the tax instead of passing it on?
- SR2Z 2y ago
  The econ is clear on this: subsidies are taken by whichever side (of supply and demand) is more elastic, and taxes are paid by whichever side is less elastic. For things like housing or fuel there are obvious answers for who's who. For something like this it's a little murkier. My guess is that Netflix will end up paying, if only because every Netflix show is also easy to pirate.
bryanlarsen 2y ago
The US has a moderate goods trade deficit with Europe but a massive services surplus with Europe. Trump's tariffs are only calculated based on the goods trade deficit. Putting a massive tariff on American services like Netflix would allow Europe to shrink that services deficit significantly. At the same time it would likely shrink the goods surplus slightly due to the substitution effect. Europe can inflict massive pain on America in retaliation at the same time as moving the numbers in a direction that it appears Trump wants.
johnea 2y ago
Isn't that the point? The levy causes less people to buy the service, this reduces the service's revenue. This causes the service to be more likely to accommodate some kind of regulatory ragine. Isn't that the point of the levy? I'm not that simpathetic to people crying about not being able to use this type of service anyway. I've never used one, and won't in the future. I've even mostly stopped using goggle's youtube as teh intrusive ads have increased. People's addiction to these dis-servies is really the root of the problem. They'll almost certainly be happier without them...

"Tax" and "levy" are bad words. Instead call it a "tariff on foreign goods" and suddenly everyone will be in favor.

cj 2y ago
The consensus on tariffs in the US is negative (nearly) across the board. More accurate would be “A small group of powerful people will be in favor”
- soupfordummies 2y ago
  Yeah, sure, NOW! Old orange has been talking about them for months and there was all kinds of positive spin from the MAGA crowd. It's only now that he's actually gone and done the thing and the consequences are already showing that people are saying "wait a minute..."
  - cj 2y ago
    And I don’t blame those people. That was his modus operandi for 5+ years. My theory is many people who voted for him, didn’t think he would actually do everything he said he was going to do, since he has a reputation for not following through with his promises. This time is way different. He actually appears to be doing what he says he’s going to do. That’s a major change from his behavior last term.
    - spwa4 2y ago
      What Trump and GOP said they'd do closely followed "project 2025" and the top level of tariffs proposed in that text was 10% ... and that was on China. Trump is levying a 35% tariff on the penguins of Heard and McDonald Islands. No humans present, and also no clarification by the administration on who exactly is being taxed here ... Trouble is, Trump is still popular. This pain will filter through the economy, but one would expect, it will filter through slowly. It may take 6 months, even 12 before it will really turn republican voters against Trump due to personal hardship.
    - SR2Z 2y ago
      Voting for a tiger who proposes eating you because he's bad at eating people is... an interesting electoral strategy. I could use stronger words, but I think you see my point.

"Deputy Byrne said was no intention to pass the levy on to Irish customers, but it was to be absorbed by the streamers" How do people keep saying things like this? Is there a single historical example where a business just ate the tax instead of passing it on?

SR2Z 2y ago
The econ is clear on this: subsidies are taken by whichever side (of supply and demand) is more elastic, and taxes are paid by whichever side is less elastic. For things like housing or fuel there are obvious answers for who's who. For something like this it's a little murkier. My guess is that Netflix will end up paying, if only because every Netflix show is also easy to pirate.

bryanlarsen 2y ago

The US has a moderate goods trade deficit with Europe but a massive services surplus with Europe. Trump's tariffs are only calculated based on the goods trade deficit. Putting a massive tariff on American services like Netflix would allow Europe to shrink that services deficit significantly. At the same time it would likely shrink the goods surplus slightly due to the substitution effect. Europe can inflict massive pain on America in retaliation at the same time as moving the numbers in a direction that it appears Trump wants.

johnea 2y ago

Isn't that the point? The levy causes less people to buy the service, this reduces the service's revenue. This causes the service to be more likely to accommodate some kind of regulatory ragine. Isn't that the point of the levy? I'm not that simpathetic to people crying about not being able to use this type of service anyway. I've never used one, and won't in the future. I've even mostly stopped using goggle's youtube as teh intrusive ads have increased. People's addiction to these dis-servies is really the root of the problem. They'll almost certainly be happier without them...