Porno Tax
The state of Kansas is considering imposing a sales tax on pornography. Their justification is that porno leads to crime and the money will be used for law enforcement purposes. Oddly enough, this isn’t the part of the story I care about.
Here’s the part I care about: people are opposing this tax because they claim it’s unfair to tax stuff just because you don’t like it. The people doing this appear to primarily liberal freedom of speechers who must really like their porno. This raises some very interesting points for me.
1- Do these people oppose taxes on cigarettes and alcohol?
2- Sin taxes already exist on cigarettes and alcohol, so what makes the sick exploitation of women (porno) so special that it should be exempted?
The people who oppose the tax are saying so many of the same things people who oppose anti-tobacco legislation and tobacco taxes are saying that I can’t help but laugh. If these people actually manage to win I will be outraged. Here’s my favorite on of their arguments, this should explain it all:
“You can’t put a tax on something just because you don’t like it. If you do that what’s to stop the legislature from taxing other stuff it doesn’t like?”
What indeed.
A long time ago in the USA marijuana was legal and unregulated. Attempts had been made to outlaw it, but the Supreme Court ruled that people had a right to put anything they wanted into their own bodies and the ban was declared unconstitutional. Then a government functionary had the brilliant idea that if they couldn’t outlaw it then they would tax it away. A law was passed requiring a tax stamp to be on every package of marijuana sold in the US (Sound familiar?). The catch was that only a very few tax stamps were actually issued. This made unregulated marijuana illegal without actually banning it by law while still managing to ban it in reality.
Fast forward a few years. Tobacco became regulated and a tax stamp was required on every pack of cigarettes sold in the US. Tax stamps were unlimited.
Fast forward a few more years. The anti-tobacco movement has pushed its agenda on America. Tobacco taxes are now so high in some places in the US that the cost of using it has become prohibitive and sales and use have dropped. These same taxes are constantly being reviewed for increase.
Now porno is being targeted for this same persecution. While I personally hate porno and all that it stands for, I am endlessly amused that some of the people, primarily liberals who have sought to abridge our freedom to smoke through taxation are enraged that what they have started is beginning to metastasize and encompass all manner of sins. Where will it all stop? It will stop when the precedent of sin taxes is overturned entirely. It won’t happen, but it should.
In the meantime I have this to say to the people who are losing their minds over the porno tax:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Here’s the part I care about: people are opposing this tax because they claim it’s unfair to tax stuff just because you don’t like it. The people doing this appear to primarily liberal freedom of speechers who must really like their porno. This raises some very interesting points for me.
1- Do these people oppose taxes on cigarettes and alcohol?
2- Sin taxes already exist on cigarettes and alcohol, so what makes the sick exploitation of women (porno) so special that it should be exempted?
The people who oppose the tax are saying so many of the same things people who oppose anti-tobacco legislation and tobacco taxes are saying that I can’t help but laugh. If these people actually manage to win I will be outraged. Here’s my favorite on of their arguments, this should explain it all:
“You can’t put a tax on something just because you don’t like it. If you do that what’s to stop the legislature from taxing other stuff it doesn’t like?”
What indeed.
A long time ago in the USA marijuana was legal and unregulated. Attempts had been made to outlaw it, but the Supreme Court ruled that people had a right to put anything they wanted into their own bodies and the ban was declared unconstitutional. Then a government functionary had the brilliant idea that if they couldn’t outlaw it then they would tax it away. A law was passed requiring a tax stamp to be on every package of marijuana sold in the US (Sound familiar?). The catch was that only a very few tax stamps were actually issued. This made unregulated marijuana illegal without actually banning it by law while still managing to ban it in reality.
Fast forward a few years. Tobacco became regulated and a tax stamp was required on every pack of cigarettes sold in the US. Tax stamps were unlimited.
Fast forward a few more years. The anti-tobacco movement has pushed its agenda on America. Tobacco taxes are now so high in some places in the US that the cost of using it has become prohibitive and sales and use have dropped. These same taxes are constantly being reviewed for increase.
Now porno is being targeted for this same persecution. While I personally hate porno and all that it stands for, I am endlessly amused that some of the people, primarily liberals who have sought to abridge our freedom to smoke through taxation are enraged that what they have started is beginning to metastasize and encompass all manner of sins. Where will it all stop? It will stop when the precedent of sin taxes is overturned entirely. It won’t happen, but it should.
In the meantime I have this to say to the people who are losing their minds over the porno tax:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
posted by Daniel Levesque at
2:22 PM
4 Comments:
I thought Kansas just missed the title "Bleeding" in front of it and wants to be given some recognition again by starting a war. Hell, if I were a state I would be pissed too if the metropolis version of "Kansas City" wasn't even located in my own state even though it was named for me.
By
Jeremy, at 2:31 PM
There are some people who will oppose anything, just for the sake of argument. The left has their ignorant children to contend with much the same as the right does. That doesn't mean ALL liberals object to the taxation of porn, cigarettes, or alcohol. Nor does it mean ALL Liberals want these things taxed. We're as diverse as any other group of people. The Liberals you keep referring to are not the majority but the MINORITY. Just like the wingnuts are the MINORITY of the conservative party.
Personally I think they all should be treated in the same way as marijuana and any other drug. More lives have been destroyed by the abuse of alcohol than any other drug in this country.
All that is going to be accomplished by taxing porn is that more people will resort to using the internet to access their porn. But, if that's what the good people of Kansas want then by all means let them have at it.
It's a shame we can't tax all those nasty sins right out of existance. Of course then we'd have nobody wanting to be politicians. Wait, that wouldn't be a bad thing now would it?
By
wanda, at 8:25 PM
I hate sin taxes, so this bugs me for that reason.
I won't even get into porn and it's consistent degradation of men, and the way they are used in it, that makes me sick.
By
Crazy Politico, at 7:59 AM
Tobacco very directly ties in to lung cancer/emphysema , and lung cancer VERY directly results in increased cost of health care, which results in a larger burden on Medicare/Medicaid.
Porn? It doesn't directly tie in to anything. You can argue crime/rape/STDs, but the tie-in isn't direct, it's round-about. And besides, there are a LOT of people that look at porn _instead_ of having sex, so it could be argued that it actually prevents rape/STDs. *shrug* The tie-in isn't as direct.
Alcohol? look at all the cirrhosis and issues of the homeless that end up in the emergency rooms/etc. Again, directly tied in. The tax exists to care for those that succumb so completely to the vices that they are physically impacted by them.
Now, if you can show us people that have to have electrolysis on their palms, or have their subsequent blindness treated.. :p
By
Anonymous, at 10:16 AM
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