OLYMPIA – A Republican state lawmaker wants higher taxes imposed on sales of pornographic products. The money raised would be used to treat sex offenders and help their victims.
Rep. Kirk Pearson of Monroe will propose a 25 percent tax on “adult entertainment” items such as videos, books and magazines in lieu of state and local sales taxes now levied by retailers.
He said he’s motivated by studies showing that as adult-themed books, magazines, CDs and videos have proliferated and their sales have climbed, incidents of sexual offenses by adults against children have likewise gone up.
“I believe there is a connection between hard-core pornography and deviant behavior of sex offenders,” he said.
If the tax causes purchases of pornography to drop and sexual offenses to decline, it would be worth it, he said.
Pearson said he will introduce the bill in the session starting Jan. 9.
Getting the bill passed won’t be easy. He may face dissent from within his own party, and must convince Democratic colleagues who hold the majority in the House of Representatives to allow a hearing and vote.
Pearson also will be fought by those who say such a tax is not legal. Pornography is protected under the First Amendment, and singling it out for special taxation is unconstitutional, they say.
“It would be irresponsible not to challenge it,” said Tom Hymes, communications director of the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association of the adult entertainment industry.
The California-based group claims 3,000 members nationwide.
The proposal tries “to use the broadest brush possible to say of adult content, ‘You are the culprit’,” he said. “It is a syllogism that would not hold up with scrutiny, and certainly not under constitutional challenge.”
Pearson’s proposal would mirror an amendment to the 1989 state budget passed by lawmakers. Gov. Booth Gardner vetoed the tax in the final version of the budget.
That amendment called for a 25 percent tax on the retail sale or use of adult entertainment materials and services “depicting sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of the sexual stimulation of the viewer.” That law directed any tax revenue into the state’s crime victims’ compensation fund.
It covered magazines, photos, movies, videos, videodiscs, audiotapes, phone services, cable television services and computer programs.
Excluded were any film, video or cable program “that does not contain any explicit sex” but that earned an “X” rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. The closest equivalent today is “NC-17.”
In 1989, supporters argued that the state had a compelling interest to assist victims of crime, and the tax was the means to that end.
Opponents argued that the courts would find insufficient proof of a nexus between pornography and sexual crimes to allow a tax targeting that mode of free speech.
Pearson’s bill would funnel revenues into programs aimed at treating offenders, compensating crime victims and educating teachers on dealing with juvenile sex offenders in a school environment.
How much money the tax would raise is not known because accurate calculations of industry revenue are not available.
According to a 2001 online article by Forbes, video sales generated an estimated $500 million to $1.8 billion nationally. In 2005, the figure may be up to $2.5 billion, said Tom Adams of Adams Research Service, which tracks sales of all types of videos.
Washington is not the only place porn taxes are gaining attention. In 2004, Utah imposed a 10 percent tax on admission fees, sales, food and drinks at sexually oriented businesses. A legal challenge put the fee on hold. The case is pending.
In Kansas, a proposal for a 10 percent excise tax on adult entertainment materials and services may be introduced when the Legislature begins its session Jan. 9. The money would go into the schools budget, according to media reports.
“It is understandable why states consider doing this,” Hymes said. “They consider it a sin tax like other sin taxes such as cigarettes. But it is not a cigarette. It is a form of free speech.”
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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