The Adult Freedom Foundation has gone on record as opposing the proposed 10 percent Kansas state “sex tax.”
“The AFF urges you and your committee to ignore the bogus anti pornography information presented to your body and reject the proposed tax,” Paul Cambria, general counsel, wrote to key Kansas legislators.
Cambria termed “nonsense” a claim by Rep. Shari Weber, the bill’s sponsor, that there is a “direct connection between pornography venues and sexually oriented businesses and sexual crimes.”
“All too often the Adult Entertainment Industry has been the target of misinformation and unfounded criticism,” Cambria wrote to the Special Committee on Assessments and Taxation co chairmen.
“Information presented to your committee is just one more example of that tactic,” Cambria said.
“Dr. Mary Klein wrote that, ‘It makes no sense to suggest that porn consumption routinely destroys relationship, families and communities. My extensive clinical experience plainly suggests otherwise.’
“And, it equally makes no sense to tax lawful adult entertainment enjoyed by 50 million Americans."
The proposal would place a 10 percent tax on erotic videos, magazines and books sold in Kansas. The Special Committee will decide this fall whether to recommend the adoption of such a tax to the next session of the legislature.
“In closing, the AFF would like to remind the committee that taxing erotic materials would violate the First Amendment and the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause,” Cambria stated.
The Kansas proposal is similar to a state law enacted last year in Utah aimed at strip clubs and escort services and a proposed law in Oklahoma aimed at X-rated books and videos. The Utah law is facing a legal challenge.
