Cities plot to tax streaming content

The city of Alameda has put before its voters Measure K1, which would allow Alameda to tax pay-per-view and video streaming services like Netflix and Hulu as if they were public utilities.

Residents pay them because governments spend money or issue special permits for infrastructure — they lay pipes for water, lay cable or wires for electricity, telephones and cable TV.

Alas for government bureaucrats, technology and modern attitudes have put a dent in utility revenue.

Alameda has been charging cell phone users a utility tax, Keimach tells me, but different companies have paid different amounts.

Measure K1 establishes that cell phone users would pay the standard 7.5 percent utility tax.

Cell phone companies could have fought cities’ taxing them as utilities, but they didn’t.

Figure they needed elected officials to win approval for cell phone tower placement.

Unlike the cell phone companies, however, the tech companies are fighting back.

Think of “the precedent this sets,” he noted, if cities can tax services that don’t utilize public easements or infrastructure as utilities.

Robert Callahan, California executive director of the Internet Association, calls Hulu and other platforms “apps” — because many people watch shows on their phones and their iPads or other tablets.

The Utility Users Tax is an existing tax on certain utility bills.

Since 1972, Alameda residents have paid a UUT on electricity, gas, cable TV and telecommunications.