The opinions expressed in “Mob Thoughts” are of the author’s and theirs alone and do not represent Movie Mobsters as a whole…unless it’s good which in that case it does.
The past few days, my Twitter has blown up with movie bloggers going completely ape over Philadelphia’s proposed “Blogger Tax”. According to an article on Reuters, any blog that is trying to monetize in any way (advertisements, etc.) will have to pay the city a 300 dollar fee in order to do so. The rationale behind this is because since it is attempting to turn a profit, the blog that monetizes is technically a business, and should pay for the business license like everyone else.
Now, this is a good idea…in theory. If blogs pulled in half the money that small businesses do, then that’s completely understandable. However, that is not always the case; some sites have advertisements simply to pay off the costs of running their website, or to maybe eck out a dollar or two for do something they love. Save for the bigger movie blogs like Cinematical or /Film, I don’t think any really make enough to constitute having to pay 300 dollars to keep in business, or at least keep the advertising.
This is also flawed because the government in Philadelphia has flat out admitted that they don’t know how many blogs exist in the city, so they are pretty much putting the veil over their eyes and throwing darts at whoever will bleed green for them.
Scary part is, this could be the sign of the future. If this turns out to be a boon for Philadelphia, other cities and states could adopt this and soon enough, Blogger taxes will abound. As you can probably tell from my wishy washy stance, I’m in the middle about this; on one hand, it’s not really fair to a smaller blogger who uses the little money they make from ads to pay for their site. On the other hand, if a site makes a good crop of money, then yeah it makes sense to charge the tax since it is sort of a business, regardless of how they would all like to claim “passion” over “cash”.
What are your thoughts on the Philadelphia Blogger Tax, and do you think it’s a good idea or a bad idea?
Absolutely ludicrous. I doubt this will ever happen because, well how will they enforce that, a blog exists in virtual space, not some physical place like a city. In any case, this really shows how desperate cities and states across the country are becoming with the impending economic collapse that should return the United States to the stone age.
Castor recently posted..
It’s ludicrous to charge EVERYONE, but maaaaaaybe charge the blogs/sites with a specific hit count. Say, for example, a site does about 200,000 unique a day odds are the ad space is somewhat profitable and then you can charge the tax.
OR maybe tailor the tax specific to hits/ad money, but that would take a lot of work and even more probing that most people would be offended at.
Plus, how many blogs actually make money off of their monetization strategies? I’ve had AdSense up since the beginning, and I think it owes me like $2.
Something tells me the folks @ Google will have a little input on this eventually.
They should just legalize pot like every other state (that starts with a C, ends with an A and rhymes with SHALIFORNIA)
FRC Ruben recently posted..The Comedians of Comedy- The Movie WhattheEff
Impossible to implement a law like this. It won’t happen.
Fitz recently posted..
Impossible right now, but now that has become an actual idea, don’t think someone won’t try to find a way. Methinks that eventually, it’ll get worked out and blogger tax, hopefully on just the sites that actually DO a profit, will exist.
Nothing’s impossible, but I’m not American so it doesn’t bother me
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Though I adamantly disagree with this and it sounds so ridiculous — I cannot say I am at all surprised…it was/is just a matter of time before this spreads from state to state. I don’t do any advertising on the Magic Lantern, but it is something i would like to do in the near future. This would surely keep me from going that route. I hadn’t read about this, so thanks for the heads up…
It’ll deter people who aren’t trying to make this their jobs from advertising, and that’s a shame in and of itself. A site costs money to run as time goes on, and it’s nice to get some backup from advertisements so you don’t go into debt for what essentially has become a hobby.
agreed on all counts. I would like to be compensated in some form from advertisements and such in the near future. Right now, it costs me nothing and is just a hobby for me — one that takes up way too much of my time. haha…
This law is ridiculous. I sincerely hope it doesn’t happen, since I live in Chicago and the state of Illinois will follow any bandwagon to get its hands on cash. It also will mean that people who blog as a hobby but can’t afford to pay for it won’t be able to, and to me, it’s almost discrimination, since it’s targeting only a specific niche of Internet users: the ones who want to express their opinions (or talk about their child’s poop stories).
I don’t think this will happen, since the internet is just too vast for the city to go after every person, and Philadelphia would have to work some way with the major blogging sites to include a fee, which I highly doubt Blogger and WordPress would agree to since it would deter users. I think this is a shot in the dark at trying to get money that won’t pan out (and SHOULDN’T pan out).
The Movie Mistress recently posted..AMERICA! Where Domestic Abuse is Comedic and Boundaries Dont Exist
I’m very glad I don’t live in Philadelphia. Or use ads.
This makes sense. Like, if you make a certain amount of money, pay so-and-so. Maybe. I don’t know.
Simon/Ripley recently posted..Thoughts on Memories
Nothing like this planned for Australia yet… although our idiotic minister for Technology might take this idea and run with it… he’s already trying to ban some websites and limit freedom of access to the Internet. Ahh, in a few short years we could end up like China.
I don’t use ads (and never will) on my site, regardless of how many hits I do or don’t get.
More info on Australia’s Internet Filter plans can be found here. Shaking of heads can commence now.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/conroys-filter-plan-unworkable-google/story-e6frgakx-1225844270444
Rodney recently posted..Movie Review – Kick-Ass
I don’t know. I don’t do nearly enough traffic to get ads, but I suspect that a “freedom of expression” lawsuit would kick this straight outta town – even if you don’t, recognising blogging as a business means all sorts of other tax exemptions and deductions and expense-related quagmires that this is just a stupid idea from an economic perspective, let alone a social one.
Darren recently posted..Non-Review Review- Baby Mama
I’m with everyone else. I can’t see how they possibly could regulate this. I’m sure it’s just another attempt from the greedy government to steal from the poor and give to the rich, but I hardly see how it could be enforced. There aren’t many bloggers out there that make enough money from blogging to tax. And already any income that you acquire from adsense you have to include in your income at the end of the year.
Heather recently posted..Trailer Zone – ‘Case 39′- ‘Vanishing on 7th Street’ and ‘My Soul To Take’
If they ever do get around to making this a reality they can gladly tax all 3.23 I make a year blogging.
Fitz recently posted..
that is $3.23 more than I made. Share the wealth, brotha!!!
Mailing the check now. lol.
Fitz recently posted..
“Philadelphia has flat out admitted that they don’t know how many blogs exist in the city” I know how many blogs exist in the city, none, zero, zilch, nada! As Castor said “blog exists in virtual space”. You could argue that they exist in the place they are hosted, if that’s the case we will start to sea offshore blogging tax havens. Having said that its all academic for me, I don’t advertise on my blog.
Andy recently posted..Overdue Reviews
Difficult to enact, impossible to enforce and completely asinine. This is something better thought up in the 90′s. Also indicates that none of these politicians have run their own blog to a profit.
Steve recently posted..Family Guy- Blue Harvest
I don’t think it can be enforced Steve, but the just the mere thought that someone thought this a possibility shows what a bunch of morons are making decisions around here.
Heather recently posted..Trailer Zone – ‘Case 39′- ‘Vanishing on 7th Street’ and ‘My Soul To Take’
A flat charge to all blogs that qualify as “small businesses” according to the current criteria established in the article would absolutely demolish a number of smaller blogs for certain. Finding another criteria or two to determine who can actually afford to pay for a license just seems like the appropriate thing to do. Otherwise Philly’s going to end up damaging a number of blogs that are in reality just passion projects and hobbies as opposed to palatable sources of income for their authors.
Like you said, not a bad idea in theory but more thought needs to be put into it than currently employed black-and-white logic.
I don’t know how it works outside of my own little bubble but it certainly doesn’t cost that much up here to get a business licence. Maybe the best way to pull this off is to only charge those that make over a certain amount. That’s kind of how the GST works (or worked now that they have the HST up here in Ontario), you only paid the tax if you made a certain amount of money. If you didn’t hit that mark then you didn’t have to pay. Sounds pretty fair to me.
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