Tax Swap: Porn for Groceries

Another ridiculous proposal in the long line of porn tax proposals (see here, here, here and here).

It seems a legislator in Tennessee wants to enact a tax on porn to pay for an elimination of the state’s tax on groceries.

State Rep. Stacey Campfield said Wednesday he will introduce legislation this year to impose a tax on pornography, dedicating the revenue toward eliminating the state sales tax on groceries.

Some people questioned about the proposal, including Gov. Phil Bredesen, said it may be unconstitutional.

We have said it a million times but we will keep saying it until lawmakers learn: the tax code is not a tool for implementing social policy.

When lawmakers tinker with the code for purposes other than raising money for government programs the code becomes less fair and more harmful to the market.

If Rep. Campfield does not like porn he should write a bill to outlaw it or curtail its distribution and leave the tax code to the sole pursuit of raising revenue