tuscl

Very interesting debate re tax bill affecting the sex industry

Monday, May 26, 2008 7:32 PM
The newspaper reports that the California legislature is considering a bill that would impose a 25% tax on gross proceeds for the entire sex industry -- porn producers and distributors, strip clubs, etc. The bill would probably have the effect of driving the porn industry out of the state (in case you did not know, California is the country's largest producer of porn). My guess (from reading the newspaper) is that the bill has little or no chance of passing. Nonetheless, if you have access to the internet, you can see the live debate in the committee where the bill was introduced. Go to [view link], and then go to their archives for May, 2008. Then click on the debate held before the tax and revenue committee (something like that) for May 12th. The participants include not only the assemblyperson pushing the bill, but also opponents of the sex industry and defenders of the sex industry. I found the discussion about whether there were any reliable studies showing secondary harm (e.g., increased crime, decreased property values) caused by the sex industry to be particularly fascinating. It was also interesting to hear to what extent porn actresses are at risk for STDs. It's a long debate, so it would be tedious to watch the whole thing, but the media player makes it pretty easy to skip around and see the highlights. Obviously if an idea like this ever became popular the sex industry would be driven underground.

5 comments

  • Dudester
    •
    16 years ago
    Porn is a ten billion dollar a year industry. I don't know the employment figures, but it seems that Californians rejoice in electing people who are anti business. If California drives the porn industry out, some other state will gleefully take it in. Some other state will rejoice in employed taxable workers. I'll have a huge laugh if California shoots itself in the foot like that. If they drive out porn, they'll probably go after Hollywood next. California-land of nuts, fruits, and flakes.
  • Zerzan
    •
    16 years ago
    "...If California drives the porn industry out, some other state will gleefully take it in." I don't think so. It looks like California is the only legal safe harbor for porn movie production in the USA. Watch from 3:21:30 in the video. Njscfan, thanks for finding this link for us. Very interesting. I liked the line of strippers at the end, who voiced their opposition to the legislation. Funny how the Russians could pronounce the word "legislation" better than some of the Americans.
  • Book Guy
    •
    16 years ago
    I'm just impressed that the state government of California has managed to make all that information available to the public through streaming video on the internet. I'm not sure most Louisiana state legislators could figure out how to stream anything other than piss down the Mississippi river ...
  • njscfan
    •
    16 years ago
    FYI, notwithstanding Dudester's comments, I never intended the post to be an attack on California or the California government. The fact that one legislator is proposing this does not mean it is going to pass. I do not think it has any chance of passing. And I think California actually has a much more sex-friendly environment than many other states. I posted this because I thought the debate was interesting, particularly the comments of some of the sex workers. I was totally blown away, for example, by the stripper who claimed to have spent years engaged in prostitution in the clubs, and who claimed to have never -- not once -- used a condom. I thought it was too bad she was not questioned about that, because in 25 years of seeing sex workers of various types, I have never once had one who did NOT use a condom. I think it would have been pretty fair game to ask her why she never bothered using a condom -- and why she blamed her behavior on the clubs she wants to run out of business.
  • Book Guy
    •
    16 years ago
    I found the video link and (finally!) figured out that the debate in question started at 1 hour, 40 minutes, 36 seconds in to the loop. I (of course) found that a lot of the presumptions and idiotic links made by the sponsor of the bill were remarkably irrational -- for example, linking "public services" to strip clubs with nothing more than an outright statement that "people need them more." What? Sewer drains have to be cleaned more often when dancers throw their g-strings down them in wild abandonment and glee? Grr ... Anyway. I do agree with the guy, the adult industry is huge. And there's got to be a LOT of it that's in the grey market, or even black. He asserted that the adult industry internationally makes more than microsoft apple google amazon ebay yahoo netflicks and earthlink combined. I believe him.
You must be a member to leave a comment.Join Now
Got something to say?
Start your own discussion