Hard Times in New York: Paterson to Tax Online Porn

Pretty soon there'll be nothing left to tax. This gives new meaning to screwing the taxpayers.

Talk of a New York tax increase just got a little, er, hotter.

It turns out that New York Gov. David Paterson's proposal on downloads of music and software would also apply to downloading pornography, an element unnoticed in the public debate so far.

The state Division of Budget confirmed to The Associated Press that the tax would apply to skin flicks, whether they are downloaded online or purchased through pay-per-view on television.

``By taxing it you're legitimizing it,'' said Michael Long, chairman of New York's Conservative Party. ``You're sending a message to the children, you're sending a message to the teenagers, if you're taxing it _ how can it be wrong? I don't know how you can sink much deeper.''

And because of recent court decisions over the relatively new area of taxing Internet transactions, the sales tax would apply only to pornographers who are located in the state. It's a break for out-of-state Web sites that wouldn't have to collect from New Yorkers.

``It's absolutely outrageous if they're profiting off of pornography,'' Long said of the state. ``If they're raising funds, it's encouraging the citizens of this state to download it.''

It's difficult to tally how much people spend for online porn, but TopTenREVIEWS.com, a sight reviewing products and ranking their quality, performance and revenue, says the industry brought in $2.84 billion in 2006. The cable, pay-per-view and phone sex industries brought in $2.19 billion that year, according to the site.

I doubt there's much of the porn industry in New York State as it is, and whatever is there will probably pick up and leave, just like most businesses that have been taxed out of state or out of business.