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BUT NO ONE HAS YET TO INFORM THEM THAT DIRECT LINK BETWEEN PORN AND CRIME HAS YET TO BE PROVED
www.kansas.com TOPEKA – The battle over sexually explicit entertainment, already well under way in Wichita, appears headed for the state Capitol in the coming months.
Pornography opponents took their case Tuesday to a legislative panel, urging that lawmakers tax sales of explicit materials. The tax committee will decide next month whether to recommend a tax to the full Legislature, which convenes in January. A lawyer representing three Wichita video stores, however, warned that the tax likely would not survive a legal challenge alleging violation of the constitutional right to free speech and equal protection under the law. The 10 percent sales tax is being pushed as a grand jury in Wichita is examining whether porn shops violate the community’s obscenity standards. And Wichita Mayor Carlos Mayans is promoting changes in zoning ordinances to force the shops to move elsewhere. Rep. Shari Weber, a Herington Republican, said a tax is justified because of a connection between pornography and sex crimes. Those crimes cost the state money to investigate and prosecute offenders, keep them in prison, rehabilitate them and monitor them when they are discharged, she said. "The state has a compelling interest to place an excise tax on these businesses because of their adverse effects on the health, well-being and safety of the citizens in our state," she said. The Kansas Department of Revenue estimates that a 10 percent tax would generate $1 million a year. That estimate, however, is based on a limited number of stores in the state that sell almost exclusively sex-related materials. Phillip Cosby, an anti-porn activist from Abilene, said the tax should be levied on the materials wherever they are sold, not just those businesses that clearly identify themselves as adult shops. In a visit to Concordia, he said, he found no stores specializing in sexually explicit material but five that sold some, he said. "I would like the tax to follow the products, similar to a pack of cigarettes," he said. John Ivan, a suburban Kansas City lawyer representing the three After Dark video stores in Wichita, said any porn tax that did not include all outlets, including the Internet and convenience stores, would run afoul of U.S. Supreme Court rulings in tax cases. He also argued that numerous studies have failed to establish that viewing pornography leads to sex crimes. |
