State Rep. Mark Miloscia, D-Federal Way, wants an 18.5 percent sales tax on “adult entertainment.” If it’s a movie it means anything that would be rated “X.” If it’s a magazine or book it has to have pictures. The proposed law (Download PDF) would have as its justification:
The legislature finds that the sale and use of adult entertainment materials and services result in increased costs to the state through the provision of increased governmental services, including human services and criminal justice services. It is the legislature’s intention that the activities that result in these increased services bear more of the costs of these services. The legislature intends to dedicate the revenues from a tax on the sale and use of adult entertainment materials and services to crime victims’ compensation, with an emphasis towards providing services, support, or therapy to those children who are victims of sexual abuse.
According to Joe Turner at the (Tacoma) News Tribune, the tax would be used for money lost for the General Assistance Unemployable program cut from the governor’s budget.
No Kitsap legislators have signed on as co-sponsors.
Who, besides those in the adult industry and comedians who readily admit to viewing porn, would testify against this bill on personal grounds? Who would be willing to argue that an additional 18.5 percent for purchases would create a financial, um, problem for themselves?
They have NO basis to conclude that adult services are any more liable to the crime of any city than any other function. The adult industry is always being hammered my pretentious, overbearing, bible thumping little brains. I think sports, being a cop, being a fireman, car driving, eating, smoking, guns, and every other friggin thing we do on this planet causes plenty more need for state intervention. Get your priorities straight Mike M. Go after the real troublemakers. Tax all politicians because they are the ones causing all the destructive legislation. I guess he wants to get his name in the books.
Believe it or not there is a bunch of internet porn companies based in Seattle that would have their buisnesses hit by this bill.
However they could move their servers out of the state and re-incorporate in Delaware to avoid the tax.
I wish this would apply to that sleazy chartreuse-colored abomination in Gorst. Actually I wish such things could just be banned, but this business is part of ‘free enterprise’. How do you explain to little kids when they ask what is in there. Yuk. I am embarrased to have such a thing in our community,
Emilie
Port Orchard, WA
Whatever happened to the lib mantra of “it’s just sex”? Now they going hands-on to spank down the little man trying to make a buck.
Emilie asked, “How do you explain to little kids when they ask what is in there.”
Tell your kids they are dancing to raise money for the state’s General Assistance Unemployable Program.
We need to stop vilifying smokers, drinkers, strippers and gamblers. They are the true patriots of our state. (Well, maybe not gamblers… their money goes to other “nations”). Without the first three; however, we’d be broke.
Smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em! And have another lap dance for the unemployable, while you’re at it.
Really Bluelight? How interesting? Like always you got it wrong…smokers and drinkers cause the loss of millions of dollars every year. Millions in DUI cases that must be tried and millions in substance abuse programs, plus there’s the loss of income that accompanies the loss of life from a DUI that results in death. As well, as the grief inflicted on family and friends.
Smokers cause loss of life and loss of income in other ways. How many of us have to watch as smokers leave the workplace a dozen times a day instead to slip out “for a quick smoke,” while the rest of us take only our approved breaks. Add that to the medical costs that smokers inflict on the rest of us through their medical needs and that of their children. Babies born to smokers face typically are of lower birth rate and are often born premature.
Plus, when someone dies early or lives the remainder of his or her life on oxygen, that is an economic drain on the rest of society.
So, you “smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em!” but keep your distance from me.
Like always I got it wrong, huh, Mary? I was being sarcastic about the state’s habit of picking the pockets of those they know will have no real advocacy.
Update us on how you’re “tearing your house down and rebuilding it green”.
Blue Light..I love your humor! I have moved you near the top of my list of people I would most like to hang out with at a party. And I don’t party much. (smile).
Mary, smoking is bad. I am not a smoker. Nobody in my family smokes. But what adults do legally within the confines of the law is their choice. If you are outraged by this, going after the substance itself doesn’t do any good. Marijuana is not legal, but you failed to mention that it also reduced on the job productivity and can kill when users get behind the wheel. Leave law abiding citizens alone. Go after those that break the law and advocate for the judicial system to enforce the current laws when people break them. Maybe then the choice to break the law in the first place won’t come so easily.
“According to Joe Turner at the (Tacoma) News Tribune, the tax would be used for money lost for the General Assistance Unemployable program cut from the governor’s budget. ”
I would testify against such a bill IF the money was used for anything other than crime related issues.
Sharon O’Hara
i am a smoker. i drink occasionally. i enjoy adult entertainment, (magazines, movies, clubs, and accompaniment). i am responsible with all. i do no drugs. i know how to drive, (licensed out of this state of course). i have no dui, no dwi, no violent criminal history. as a matter of fact, i am a former marine that has fought for the rights of this country. what i never fought for was taxation without representation. you all remember the saying that the “rebels” used against britain back in 1773. this country believes that it can tax honest hard working citizens for anything and everything. the taxes that never used to exist do now, the taxes that started out unreasonable before are mind blowingly ridiculous now. i get the living crap taxed out of me in this state because bs legislators and politicians think that they can pocket more money in these tough economical times. i’m tired of the government charging me for it’s mistakes. i’m tired of politicians forcing me to make “charitable” donations in forms of higher amounts being removed from my already stretched salary. this government has no right to tax without a fight. anyone that says they will not fight this or any other tax proposition should be considered cowards. the government has gone too far, and the nation should stand up against what’s wrong and fight for what is ours. we deserve to strive and continue to be the land of the free and home of the brave. we are not the land of the taxed and home to the cowards. people in the western washington territories need to stand up and fight, for whatever you believe in, because if you don’t then you truly are a coward.