The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the federal government to stop the streaming tax hike entirely after it announced a review of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s decision to triple it.

“We don’t need another CRTC review, we need the government to scrap the Netflix tax entirely,” said Kris Sims, CTF Alberta Director. “Taxpayers are exhausted from paying sky-high income taxes, carbon taxes, payroll taxes, business taxes and sales taxes.

“The last thing they need when they try to escape and watch something is another tax to pay.”

Canadian Heritage Minister Marc Miller announced the federal government is telling the CRTC to “review” its decision to increase the streaming tax from five to 15 percent of revenues for companies with Canadian broadcasting revenue above $25 million.

“The CRTC’s new requirements would impose new costs on the companies providing these services, which could ultimately fall on Canadian consumers through higher prices,” the government news release reads.

The government said it would also start pouring more taxpayers’ money into Canadian media production in the future, after consultations with industry and Canadians.

“Taxpayers are already forced to pay more than $1.4 billion for the CBC and more than $2.2 billion for the heritage department, they cannot afford this streaming tax hike,” said Sims. “Miller should do the right thing and scrap the hike on streaming services, because at the end of the day, it’s the normal working person who’s getting screwed with these hiked fees and taxes.”

-30-