Republican candidate for governor, Senator Michael Williams, released the following statement on House Bill 887, the “Netflix Tax” bill.
“I am shocked at this blatant example of crony capitalism from my colleagues in the State House. Eliminating taxes on big corporations and passing them on to consumers in the form of a new tax is the reason Georgians are furious at Atlanta politicians. They literally have a plan to tax your subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify. This will not generate enough money to fix rural broadband, it will only grow state government. The same lawmakers will come back in two years demanding even more taxes.
“I wish lawmakers would ignore the large sums of cash cable service providers handed them and would write a law that expands broadband to the 28 percent of Georgians who lack it without creating new taxes on consumers. Unfortunately for Georgia, lawmakers won’t do that because they love depositing large lobbyist checks into their campaign accounts.
“I’m running for governor to stop crony capitalist legislation like the Netflix Tax and provide solutions that don’t take more money from the people of Georgia. Campaign Casey’s own spokesman defended the proposed tax on Facebook just a few hours ago! Ironically, the tax he is supporting could one day be used to justify a tax on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. It’s time to tell Lt. Governor Casey Cagle that we are done with his tax and spend policies.
“I challenge ”Campaign Casey’ and other swamp creatures who demand more taxes on Georgians to look at eliminating tax credits given to big corporations rather than adding new taxes to Georgians. Voters need to remember: The same lawmakers keen on handing over billions of your money to Amazon are also supporting a new tax on your Netflix subscription. Simply ridiculous.”
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