Netflix Tax Eyed To Prevent MTA Fare Hikes: Report

NEW YORK CITY — New Yorkers' Netflix subscriptions could get more expensive to keep their MTA swipes at $2.75, according to a new report.

Lawmakers are eyeing a sales tax on streaming services as an alternative to Gov. Kathy Hochul's controversial proposal to hikepayroll taxes as a way to fund the cash-strapped transit agency, the Wall Street Journal first reported.

The potential tax would go toward raising the $1 billion the MTA needs to avoid a planned fare hike for subways and buses to $3, the report states.

Hochul's preferred solution to avoid the hike came within her proposed budget, which included an MTA bailout that in part relies on raising the state's mobility tax from 0.34 percent to 0.5 percent.

But many lawmakers in communities outside New York City raised objections to the payroll tax hike and Democratic lawmakers appear poised to reject it. Instead, they are floating alternatives that include a 4 percent streaming service tax, as well as increases on corporate taxes and a surcharge on ride-hailing trips, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The current state budget expires March 31, which is an effective deadline for a solution.

Read the full Wall Street Journal report here.