Congress Considers a Porn Tax

[Frodo]

Aside from speculations on its chances of passing both houses of Congress, what do you think about the bill that Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln is proposing?  Would you personally support it?
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It’s Official: Porn Tax, Mandatory Age Verification Go Before House and Senate

By: Kathee Brewer
Posted: 4:25 pm PDT 7-27-2005   

WASHINGTON - More than a week after news of its existence leaked, a bill seeking a 25 percent excise tax on adult entertainment purchased online and the imposition of mandatory, “certified” age verification of adult website visitors was introduced Wednesday by nine Democratic Senators. Concurrently, two members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced companion legislation there.

“The Internet has become our new American Main Street, and it’s literally transforming the experience of growing up in America in a way much different from the way parents of today grew up,” Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), author of The Internet Safety and Child Protection Act of 2005, told reporters during a press conference Wednesday morning. “Many Internet service providers have taken significant steps to provide parents with tools to protect their children from inappropriate material online, and they should be commended. But sadly, many adult-oriented websites in today’s online world are not only failing to keep products unsuitable for children from view, but are also pushing those products in children’s faces. And it’s time that we stand up and say enough is enough.”

Lincoln said her legislation would help relieve the anxieties experienced by parents due to the lack of control many feel they have over what their children view online. She said it’s time the costs of protecting children online shift from the American taxpayer to “the actual purveyors of online pornography.” The Senate bill is cosponsored by Senators Tom Carper (D-Del.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). The House version was introduced by Reps Jim Matheson (D-Utah) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.).

Both bills propose three primary objectives:

-         Adult, for-profit websites would be required to use software to verify the age of users attempting to access them. Online merchants, banks, and credit card companies could not process payment transactions that are not age-verified. The FTC would be empowered to issue and enforce regulations pursuant to age verification.

-         An “Internet Safety and Child Protection Fund (ISCP Trust Fund)” would be established to centralize and coordinate the allocation of federal resources in support of efforts on the part of law enforcement and others to combat Internet and pornography-related crimes against children. Trust Fund resources also would support initiatives that help parents exercise greater supervision over their kids’ online activities.

-         The trust fund and enforcement of the regulations would be financed by a 25-percent tax on Internet pornography transactions.

source

 

[Jake]

Excellent. I'm a major supporter of "sin" taxes. Raise them high.

[TeePee4Prez]

NOOOOOOOOO, but tougher regs on kiddie porn.

[A18]

The tax is constitutional. The regulation is not.

[© tweed]

This could make alot of money for the Gov't, it's a smart idea and I'd support it.  Porn is much much larger than the Hollywood industry.  More money could be made by heavily taxing the sales of drugs.  With those two at a 50% tax, the deficit could be lessened alot in a short period of time.

[tarheel-leftist85]

Excellent. I'm a major supporter of "sin" taxes. Raise them high.

Agree

[Max Power]

Raise them high.

I find this part ironic.

Anyways, YES!! DO IT!!

[John Dibble]

Oh god, the beauracracy that would be needed to enforce both of these would be absolutely horrendous. All the tax would end up doing is paying for the horrid thing(I don't support it anyways, the government shouldn't try to control people through taxes - if it's not a behavior or product they can forbid outright it should be taxed like everything else and not treated special).

Further, with the tax you'll see two things happening. First, people will buy porn dvds and whatnot from foreign websites which we can't tax, moving the money to other countries instead of keeping it here. Second, the website owners will just move their hosting to other countries, so they can't be regulated either(not to mention those already not there). This is just another stupid political gesture that doesn't give a rat's ass about any consequences or realism.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Terrible idea.

[Inverted Things]

Good luck enforcing it. How would you tax foreign sites?

[nini2287]

The tax is constitutional.

I think that's the first time I've ever heard you say that.

[opebo]

Typical prudery from the vile self-hating culture.

Probably unconstitutional as it is intended to limit speech.

[Jake]

No...It just places a tax on purchases made. Unless of course, taxing newspapers, magazines, and books is unconstitutional in your mind.

[Bono]

NOOOOOOOOO, but tougher regs on kiddie porn.

it's illegal. How more regulated can it get?

[Ebowed]

-         Adult, for-profit websites would be required to use software to verify the age of users attempting to access them.

Bad.

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Bad.

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Bad.  If you have to have outrageous taxes, at least put them to good use.  Hey Congress, perhaps you're not aware, but WE HAVE A HUGE DEFICIT AT THE MOMENT.

Overall a stupid bill.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Not a bad idea in principle

[John Dibble]

Not a bad idea in principle

How about in practice though?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Not a bad idea in principle

How about in practice though?

Depends how it's structured. Sticking a sales tax on the purchase of a porn mag or whatever shouldn't cause any trouble at all.
Ultra-complicated regulation/legislation and all that (you know the stuff that Congress just *loves* to fiddle into bills...) is generally not an especially clever thing to do though.

[John Dibble]

Not a bad idea in principle

How about in practice though?

Depends how it's structured. Sticking a sales tax on the purchase of a porn mag or whatever shouldn't cause any trouble at all.

Well, the trouble is though this isn't a tax on an item in a store - this is a tax on internet purchases. As I pointed out, I think it'll just drive these stores to other countries.

[WalterMitty]

Typical prudery from the vile self-hating culture.

Probably unconstitutional as it is intended to limit speech.

i thought you liked taxes?

redistribution is the way to go, right?

think of all of the poors that are working for their owners at wal mart while riches view porn tax free.  talk about injustice!

[DanielX]

The tax is constitutional. The regulation is not.

^^^^^^^^^^

Indeed. 

[Filuwaúrdjan]

i thought you liked taxes?

Only when they don't effect him

[KEmperor]

See, I have no problem with some sort of manditory age verification on internet porn sites.  However, having to pay money to prove that you are over 18 is just stupid.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

They should make the tax $5 per MB of download and basically shut-down the industry within the US.

[Storebought]

They should make the tax $5 per MB of download and basically shut-down the industry within the US.

Don't you see the evil in that? That is just the Democrats' way of sneaking in taxation of Internet commerce.