Skokie trustees raise entertainment tax, apply it to Netflix and other streaming services

It’s about to become slightly more expensive to stream television and music in Skokie. 

The Skokie Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Monday to raise the village’s Amusement Tax and expand its scope to apply to any “video streaming, audio streaming, or remotely accessed online games” that residents use on a rental or subscription basis, village documents show.

The trustees more than doubled the tax, from 2% to 5%, meaning a Skokie resident paying $19.99 for a standard Netflix plan will now have to pay an additional $1. Streaming services will collect the tax from residents and pay it to the village starting on Sept. 1, according to village documents. 

The previous version of Skokie’s Amusement Tax only applied to the tickets residents pay to attend events like concerts, movies, guest lectures and circus acts. Finance Director Julian Prendi estimated the hike will bring Skokie $1.01 million in additional annual revenue. 

As d previously reported, village staff identified two “strategic enhancements” they wanted to fund after drafting Skokie’s fiscal year 2027 budget: acquiring a new ambulance for the firedDepartment’s fleet and improving the village’s development services. 

The budget report showed that emergency medical service incidents in Skokie have increased by about 10% over the past five years, and Village Manager John Lockerby said in April that calls for emergency services frequently peak and overlap between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays. 

In order to “maintain service levels and adequate response capacity,” the fire department reportedly recommended the village add a fourth ambulance to its fleet at a cost of approximately $718,000 — $493,000 to acquire and $225,000 to operate via overtime hours. 

Consultants from the Matrix Consulting Group also reviewed Skokie’s development services and recommended the village streamline and enhance various processes, Lockerby said. 

The improvements include additional staffing, technology investments to support enhanced code compliance efforts, more efficient building inspections and streamlined permitting processes, said Patrick Deignan, Skokie’s communications manager in an email to The Record. 

The improvements to the development services will cost Skokie an additional $300,000 to $350,000 a year, Lockerby estimated.

Both the ambulance and the improved development services will apparently be funded by revenue from the increased Amusement Tax.

Stew Weiss, a member of Skokie’s corporation counsel, said on Monday that the pivot to include streaming services is the “law … catching up with economic reality.”

Skokie’s 5% entertainment tax will still be lower than the average entertainment tax rate of 5.38% for area municipalities, a number of which already tax streaming services, aid Prendi during the village’s budget hearings. Chicago taxes streaming services 10.25%, a city webpage shows. 

Mayor Ann Tennes emphasized on Monday that the tax increase “is not regressive” as residents can choose to buy tickets to theatrical performances or streaming subscriptions. 

The North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, which the village owns, will also have to pay the tax and remit funds to the village, Tennes noted.

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