Australia: Netflix could be hit with special tax

Australia could soon levy a special tax on Netflix as traditional media platforms decline, the federal communications minister has revealed.

Speaking to The Australian newspaper, Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said there was an argument that overseas streaming services should be paying tax in Australia because taxation from traditional broadcasters is dwindling.

“The more you can have companies that are in the same market subject to broadly the same set of regulatory requirements and obligations the better,” he said in the interview.

Fletcher made his comments just weeks before the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) releases the final report from its digital platforms inquiry.The ACCC is due to hand down its report by June 30.

The inquiry is looking at the impacts of digital search engines, social media and other platforms within the media landscape, with big tech companies like Google and Facebook in its sights.