Congress Considers a Porn Tax

[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.

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

uh, no

[John Dibble]

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

Just because you don't like the industry doesn't mean it should be shut down. If sinners want to sin and it doesn't hurt others, then let them - isn't it God's job to punish them and not the government?

[David S]

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.

Bravo!!

[patrick1]

Hey, I have an idea.  Why don't we tax pre-marital sex also?  This is another government encroachment into personal privacy and another way to fleece people of their money.  I always tell some pothead friends that they really don't want marijuana legalized because the gov't will tax the hell out of it and it will end up costing a lot more money.  Once, government gets their toe in the door they the will keep chipping away and take as much of your money as possible.   I commend the libertarian posters for their consistency.   Just because you find something objectionable does not mean that a particular group should be unfairly taxed.  Can we also tax rap music that has objectionable lyrics?  Government will always find more ways to take your money and net time it will be something that you enjoy- Perhaps that Big mac or Hershey's bar.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Actually it'd be rather easy to collect a tax on internet porn since cash is not an option for the e-economy.  There would be some fly-by-night porn sites that could escape having their credit card processors collect the tax, but the reputable sites that generate repeat traffic won't be able to pull that tactic.

[opebo]

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?

Yes, I like taxes in general, but not those that single out specific products.

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

Why?

[A18]

What about Bibles?