Watching ‘Elf’ or ‘Home Alone’ costs $300M more in Chicago

Chicagoans pay extra to stream holiday movies on Netflix or Hulu because of the city’s 10.25% streaming tax. The cost was nearly $300 million in 2025.

Watching classics such as “Elf,” “Home Alone” or “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” means Chicago quietly adds a tax expected to yield nearly $300 million by the end of 2025, according to estimates from an open records request.

Chicago’s amusement tax applies not just to theater tickets and stadium seats, but to “amusements that are delivered electronically,” including streaming video and music. Chicago this year raised the tax from 9% to 10.25% on paid TV and streaming services, so the tax also applies to streaming your favorite holiday playlist on Spotify or Apple music.

Exploring what the city has to offer during the holidays is obviously amusement, but why would that same tax apply to staying on your couch watching a movie?

That stacks on top of the costs families already face from inflation, high property taxes and rising fees. The amusement tax is also regressive: a flat percentage that hits low-income households hardest, even though streaming has become the affordable alternative to pricier nights out.

Chicago was the first city in the nation to extend its amusement tax to streaming back in 2015. What started as a levy on movie theaters, concerts and sporting events has grown into a tax on ordinary at-home entertainment – the kind that should be low-cost fun.

At nearly $300 million, the tax is neither low-cost nor fun.