Canceling a cable subscription and replacing it with online streaming saves you a lot of money, but it costs your town money in lost tax revenue, too, prompting some local governments to propose a so-called Netflix tax.

One of the most recent cities to adopt the charge is Pasadena, Calif., whose 9.4-percent tax on streaming services is set to take effect Jan. 1. That move has drawn the ire of consumers and tech companies, according to the New York Times, even as it is set to expand to dozens more cities and towns across California, whose governments are seeking to take advantage of a tax code that allows them to apply utility taxes to any video delivery platform.

Glendale, Santa Barbara, Stockton, and Sacramento are among the more than 40 California cities who are currently seeking guidance from municipal consultants as to how they might implement a Netflix tax. Meanwhile, opponents argue that streaming services aren't taxable.

"Websites and apps are not utilities and it defies logic to tax them like electricity, water or gas," Noah Theran, a spokesman for the Internet Association, told the Times.

Similar taxes have been challenged but ultimately implemented successfully elsewhere around the US and the world.

In Chicago, an advocacy group sued the city last year after it announced that a 9 percent amusement tax would include paid subscriptions for streamed digital music, rental movies, TV shows, and games. The tax took effect in July 2015.

The Australian federal government has been mulling over a decision to apply the national goods and services tax to Netflix since May 2015. The plan would be to charge a ten per cent GST levy on digital services sold in Australia by companies based overseas, including music, videos, and computer games.