Wisconsin passes iTunes tax
Joining the District of Columbia and 15 other states, JSOnline reports that Wisconsin, aka America’s Dairyland, has passed a measure that will add a 5 percent sales to music, videos and movies purchased from Apple’s iTunes Store, as well as other digital content vendors.
“This is applying the sales tax in the same way to the same products,” said Lee Sensenbrenner, a spokesman for the state. “This change protects Main Street businesses.”
Wisconsin consumers will shell out an additional $6.7 million, which suggests downloads are a $134-million biz in the state, a year to purchase music online. Moreover, because the download business is expected to grow by 20 percent or more annually, this revenue stream for the state will continue to grow commensurately.
A leading source of new revenue for states as the recession deepens, in addition to raising so-called sin taxes on alcohol, tobacco and entertainment, has been digital media and content, a sector dominated by Apple’s iTunes.
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Filed under: Music
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