Riverside residents who like to stream television should prepare for their monthly bills to go up.
Trustees on Nov. 20 directed village staff to draft an ordinance to impose a 5% tax on video and audio streaming services — like Netflix and Spotify, for example — as well as purchases of digital computer games, like those one might buy on Steam, the largest distributor of video games for PCs. The tax will not apply to cable television.
According to a village memo, staff expect the new tax to generate about $40,000 per year once it goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
The new revenue would nearly make up for $45,000 the village will lose each year after the state-imposed 1% grocery tax sunsets in 2026. Municipalities were given the option to impose the grocery tax locally starting next year after Illinois lawmakers voted to eliminate it in 2024. But Riverside’s village board opted to let the tax fall off, calling it “regressive.”
“When my household budget gets tight, I’m going to eliminate Netflix long before I stop eating,” said Village President Doug Pollock.
The imposition of the streaming tax will require streaming providers to register with Riverside staff and submit a monthly return, similar to retail operators of “places to eat” that sell prepared food, according to the memo.
Providers could pass costs associated with the tax to residents who pay for their services.
Several suburban municipalities in Cook County, including River Grove, Evanston, Midlothian and more, have already imposed a similar tax at 5% while Chicago has imposed a 10.25% streaming tax. In the 2015 court case Labell v. City of Chicago, state judges upheld the city’s right to collect the tax in the face of a lawsuit alleging a violation of the Illinois Constitution.
Village Manager Jessica Frances said the new tax could make village-related expenses more equitable between residents who pay for cable and those who opt instead for streaming.
“[Cable providers] pay us not only a cable franchise fee, but also, they pay for different PEG fees. Then, those resources help to offset costs that we have for Riverside TV, and we don’t get that from streaming,” Frances said. “They utilize our right-of-way for all of their cabling underneath, and while streaming services need that cabling in order to make those different connections … they’re not paying those fees, so it is a little bit of an offset to help manage that.”
Correction, Dec. 2, 2025, 3:20 p.m.: A previous version of this story misquoted Village Manager Jessica Frances. She spoke of PEG fees. The Landmark regrets the error.
