Netflix – watch out. Province of Quebec is after you. After Canada announced half a billion of dollar of investments from Netflix – Quebec has decided that is not enough and it needs to act by itself.
Finance Minister Carlo Leitao according to Lapresse said Netflix is a taxable service, and Quebec will ensure to tax it:
“Netflix’s service is taxable and we intend to ensure that consumers pay the tax in the name of [tax] equity”
«Le service qu’offre Netflix est taxable et nous avons l’intention de nous assurer que les consommateurs paient la taxe au nom de l’équité [fiscale]»
All Quebec parties have spoke out against an agreement Netflix reached with federal government just last week where they said they will invest $500 million dollars into Canadian media / film industry.
It will be interesting to see how Quebec will receive the tax considering the GST , federal government portion, is not being taxed as Netflix is exempt from paying taxes in Canada due to the recent agreement.
Some users were taken aback by the announcement. In case you do not speak French – here is some rough translations:
Alex Portelance on Twitter:
UBER, Netflix, etc.., in small Quebec we’d rather protect and consume mediocrity instead of opening our world to the progress and the better!
UBER, Netflix,etc..,au p'tit Québec on préfère protéger et consommer la médiocrité ,plutôt que d'ouvrir notre monde au progrès et au mieux !
— Alex Portelance (@AlexPortelance1) October 4, 2017
Ouais, le Québec va imposer la TVQ ,j’espère que Netflix va l’envoyer jouer dans le trafic…
— Jacques Vidricaire (@jvidricaire) October 3, 2017
https://twitter.com/pbergeron01/status/913456835931320320
Yet some other ones supported it calling it simple matter of common sense and equality:
Québec prêt à imposer la TVQ à Netflix
Parfait; Question de bon sens et d’équité. #polqc https://t.co/Q5YGPzU3Hq— Yves Lavoie (@yveslavoieMTL) October 3, 2017
Jean-François Lisée, leader of the Parti Quebecois (PQ), also said that, all producers of media should be charged tax, and that it will take the money to subsidize and reintroduce it back into Quebec society.
Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), François Legault, said that he sees a big injustice where rich companies like Netflix can getaway scot-free while local Videotron has to pay millions in taxes.
