For decades, Marylanders fed up with paying high taxes pointed to neighboring Pennsylvania as an example of a more hospitable tax climate.  Those days may be fading, now that Pennsylvania has become the nation’s first state to tax Netflix, Hulu and other digital streaming services.  The Pennsylvania legislature enacted the expansion of the sales tax this week as part of a $650 million tax increase package.

This is not the first sign of Pennsylvania’s growing appetite for new taxes.  Since 2013, Pennsylvania’s ranking in the nonpartisan Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index has dropped from 19 to 34.  

The Commonwealth Foundation’s Nathan Benefield put it this way: “Harrisburg has a spending addiction, and Pennsylvanians are now being forced to pay more for their Netflix and Kindle books to fund it.”

This kind of tax may remind Marylanders of the not-too-distant past.  Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley infamously enacted dozens of new tax increases removing an estimated $8 billion from the pockets of everyday Marylanders and businesses.  In 2012, just a few years after raising the state’s sales tax by 20 percent, O’Malley sought to expand the tax to digital streaming services such as iTunes, Netflix and Spotify.  Fortunately, the measure failed.

Governor Larry Hogan’s clear stance against tax increases should give fans of digital streaming comfort, but don’t be surprised if advocates, forever looking to fill government coffers, make a concerted push in the future.