Why not a tax on pornography?

Our various American and European governments seem to be ready to clutch any straws floating by in the vast sea of deficits being handed down to future generations as a result of us all living beyond our means. We need to get beyond the stage of piling up more taxes on old taxes and look for new sources of revenue. Sin taxes might be a new avenue to consider. We already tax cigarettes and alcoholic beverages at a high rate, but we may be overlooking an untapped sin tax in pornography, which could be a veritable gold mine. Pornography is estimated to be a $90 billion-a-year "industry" in our country alone which makes General Motors look like small change. Moreover, it is unlikely this business will ever be off-shored. Why not levy a sin tax on pornography as we have already done on tobacco and alcohol?

Walter Santi

Bloomingdale