State Sen. Charlie Shields (R-St. Joseph) wants to raise $5 million for the state budget by way of new taxes on porn and illegal drugs.
Shields wants to put a 5 percent tax on gross receipts of all porn material, from print to video to live stage performances, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
"Pornography is the next great sin to tax,'' Shields told reporters. "If you can't get rid of it for constitutional issues, you can at least tax it.'' But recent proposed sin tax hikes in Missouri failed - a hike in the alcohol tax sank in the state legislature last year, and Missouri voters rejected a November ballot measure to hike the tobacco tax.
Shields's proposal also included a requirement for illegal drug dealers to pay taxes on everything they sell and, if they're found with drugs they hadn't paid taxes on, the state could fine them and seize their property, the Post-Dispatch said.
Opponents say those proposals wouldn't end either the porn or the illegal drug businesses, the paper added.
The Shields proposal was scheduled for an April 25 debate in the state Senate. State Republicans are trying to raise $200 million in revenue without general tax increases, the Post-Dispatch said, to soften spending cuts made in order to get the state budget balanced for the coming fiscal year.
