The Wages of Sin is Taxation!

No one I know like taxes. But we generally agree that the government need to collect taxes to provide services, such as roads, schools, and other social programs. But since when does creating a new tax, help us enforce laws? I'm not talking about a tax to place additional police on the street. But a tax on criminals or more to the point, a tax on the crimes they commit. If you think this is a good idea, think again.

We all know how effective taxes on cigarettes and alcohol have been. Remember how taxing cigarettes was going to keep minors from smoking? Despite the recent sky rocketing taxes on cigarettes teens are still smoking. If those dumb, pointless "Truth" commercials are any example of how cigarette tax money is being spent, I'm surprised the number of teen smoking hasn't doubled.

Law makers have hit an all time low in dumb tax proposals. Congress held the first of three Congressional hearings on September 19, 2006 to figure out how to tax child pornography sites. Yes, you heard me right. Congress wants to levy taxes on child pornography sites and those who use them. Since when did Congress become pimps for child pornographers?

I have an original idea, throw them in prison! Congress is actually holding hearings trying to figure out how to come up with technology to track U.S. based child pornography sites and those who access them and tax them. Congress is actually crying about not being able to track down U.S. based child pornographers. So instead of trying to create way to hunt them down and lock them away, Congress is trying to profit from one of the most despicable crimes imaginable.

To hear them spin it, the monies raised would go to help prevent child pornography. They are trying to cut off the means perverts have for accessing the sites, by making it too costly for them. Who do they think they are kidding?

If you still think this is a good idea, then consider this. In 2005 Congress attempted to pass a 25% tax on all Internet pornography. The proposed legislation was called the Internet Safety and Child Protection Act of 2005. The Act is so weak and watered down it makes me want to pull my hair out. It calls for adult pornography site to use an age verification system. Which of course they all currently use. So that portion of the Act is useless. It never says how the 25% tax would be spent. This version of the "Pimp Tax" never got off the ground. They learned there may be Constitutional free speech issues, since the Supreme Court in 1930 struck down a similar law.

Now fast forward to 2006, Congress is back with a revised version. Child pornography isn't protected speech. So they target child pornography. But that's a good thing, right? Wrong! You don't tax child pornography; you throw everyone associated with it in jail.

To make matters worse, Congress is inventing numbers. As justification Congress claims child pornography is a $20 billion industry in the United States alone. The truth of the matter is that in the United States pornography is a $12 Billion industry. Child pornography in the United States is responsible for $3 billion of the pornography industry. (Source: Internet Pornography Statistics by Jerry Roplato, Top Ten Reviews Inc. 2006). Not that it really matter. But if child pornography brought in only one penny, then that is one penny too much.

Maybe I don't get it. Maybe I'm just flat out wrong. Okay, I'm on board now. Let's empty our prisons and rewrite our tax codes. Murder can be taxed at a rate of 30% of the victim's projected life time earning potential, unless of course they had it coming. Then the tax would drop to 15%. Of course misdemeanor crimes would be taxed at a flat rate.

Taxing child pornography will not keep our children safe. Hunting them down and throwing them in prison will. We need tougher enforcement of criminal laws, not higher taxes for sex crimes against our children.