Porn And Taxes

On January the 1st Texas levied a statewide tax on strip clubs and visitors were being faced with a $5 tax when they went in to a strip club and the “sin tax” or “poll tax” is being contemplated by Florida and New Mexico.

This has given thought to adult webmasters as to whether they may be in line for taxation too. And if so how high will it be? And that on top of the existing sales and income taxes a commercial site has to pay.

It makes me glad to be in the UK at the moment but there could be a problem enforcing the tax, for example where would the ruling apply. If the server for the adult website is in Ireland but the readership is predominantly in the USA, then does the tax apply at the consumer end or the server.

There are many unanswered questions but it does make you wonder where this is going.

Obviously there are differing opinions on the concept, with the church apparently taking the stance that taxing with an erotic tax makes the industry legitimate, whilst Bill Margold who was a major adult film star in the 1970’s fully supports the idea of taxation, believing that it should be made legitimate.

I do wonder where the line would be drawn with this, you can’t possibly compare a site like this one with a big revenue earner providing on line adult content with large corporations behind them. This tax could cripple a site like this one who only just covers the costs of running the site and paying for its host.

And don’t mention salaries for the two dedicated staff who provide content for it three times a day. That’s a long way off LOL I can dream can’t I?

As I said at the start of this post I’m glad we are in the UK…