Last-Minute Arkansas Bill Would Tax Adult Entertainment

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Sen. Percy Malone (D-Arkadelphia) introduced SB921 Monday on the last day of filing. The bill, if passed, would tax adult entertainment businesses in the state and use the proceeds for the protection of abused children. The bill, which is currently in “shell” form, does not indicate how much of a tax will be sought, but the fact that it exists at all should reinforce the fact that being a Democrat does not mean you are not vulnerable to flights of fancy that spawn affiliations between adult entertainment and child abuse where none actually exist.   The all too literal title of the bill is “An Act To Amend the Laws Regarding Taxation of the Adult Entertainment Industry; To Provide that Revenues Generated from the Taxation of Businesses in the Adult Entertainment Industry Shall Go Towards the Protection of Abused Children; and for Other Purposes.” The Senate Committee on Revenue and Taxation is scheduled to take it up Wednesday. Unknown is whether there is any support for such a tax among Arkansas Republicans, who like GOPers in other states, including California, probably see any new tax as anathema to life and liberty.