Regular Visitor
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5 Messages
City Amusement Tax - Evanston, IL
I live in Evanston, IL. Starting in October, Comcast has started to add a $3.51 City Amusement Tax to my bill. This makes no sense, because the tax is only for streaming services (eg Netflix) and we received no streaming services from Comcast. If you feel this is correct, please explain how the tax is calulated.
Here is link to Evanston's Ordnance - clearly labeled as for streaming services:
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CCAndrew
Diamond Problem Solver
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25.9K Messages
6 m ago
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brennerph
Regular Visitor
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5 Messages
6 m ago
Acutally, it's a very fun place, just broke. And I get it that Comcast is just collecting a city tax - but they are doing it wrong. It's a 5% tax and I'm paying $3.51 which means I'm paying the tax on $70.20. Since my total bill (TV, Internet, Voice) for my Xfinity plan is $105, and the tax is only supposed to be for streaming, somthing is wrong.
So, who can tell me how this tax is calculated? At a very minimum, how can I make sure that the City is getting the $$$ that are being collected?
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ComcastChe
Official Employee
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6.1K Messages
6 m ago
Hi @brennerph,
Thanks for posting to the Xfinity Forum and sharing your feedback. For more information about how the tax is imposed, computed, or how your city collects the fees, please review sections 1-4 of that document. For more information, check out these links:
Learn More about the Taxes, Fees and Other Charges on Your Bill,
Your local Comcast service rate information is available.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Comcast: CARE, Product, Leadership. We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
Was your question answered? Mark the post as Best Answer!
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brennerph
Regular Visitor
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5 Messages
6 m ago
Thanks for the info @ComcastChe. Unfortunately, it doesn't answer my question. The first document simply gives an overview of the types of taxes and fees (there are many!!!) - no specifics. The second document is simply a list of Comcast fees - no info on City Amusement Tax.
You state "For more information about how the tax is imposed, computed, or how your city collects the fees, please review sections 1-4 of that document. " I can't figure out what document you are referring to. Can you help?
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brennerph
Regular Visitor
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5 Messages
6 m ago
Actually, the Evanston Ordnance (link in my original post) says that the tax rate is 5% and it applies only to streaming services.
Based on the ordnance and the fact that Comcast is charging $3.51/month for the 5% Evanston Amusement Tax, it means that I am receicving $70.20/month in streaming services. This makes no sense!!!
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strega7
Regular Contributor
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393 Messages
6 m ago
I'm no tax attorney but under section 3-2-17-2 (definitions) it lists amusement as…"(E) Any paid television programming, whether transmitted by wire, cable, fiber optics, laser, microwave, radio, satellite or similar means; (F) Any video streaming, audio streaming or online games delivered electronically to mobile devices. " So even though the title says it amends something to include streaming, the definitions section and the section before seems to include all these other "amusements".
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brennerph
Regular Visitor
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5 Messages
6 m ago
All I need to know is how the $3.51 in Evanstonb city amusement tax that appears on my Comcast bill is calculated. What part of my bill is subject to this tax? What is the tax % being charged? Multplying these 2 numbers should be $3.51.
It would seem like someone in Comcast should be able to answer these 2 simple questions pretty easily.
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