State Rep. Mark Miloscia, D-Federal Way, is prime sponsor of House Bill 2103, which would levy an 18.5 percent tax on all visual or audio pornographic materials.

But he's not the only one.

House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, has signed on. So have Reps. Al O'Brien, D-Mountlake Terrace, Bob Hasegawa, D-Seattle, John McCoy, D-Tulalip, and Marilyn Chase, D-Shoreline.

I don't know yet how much they hope to raise from the porn tax because there is no fiscal note for the bill yet. I don't think it would solve the entire $6 billion budget shortfall, but I'm assuming Miloscia arrived at the 18.5 percent figure for a reason.

Miloscia said he doesn't know yet, either, "but anything would be helpful in this situation."

House Finance Committee Chairman Ross Hunter, D-Medina, has agreed to hold a hearing, Miloscia said.

Gov. Chris Gregoire has proposed cutting the General Assistance Unemployable (GAU) and Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment Support Act (ADATSA) programs to save $415 million over the 2009-11 budget cycle. (I don't have separate figures for each program, but Miloscia wants to salvage only the 16,000 folks on GAU, not the 6,000 on ADATSA.)

Here is the full text of HB 2103.

The porn tax would apply to materials that show explicit sex -- magazines, photographs, motion pictures, video tapes, video discs, cable television, telephone services, audio tapes, computer programs and paraphenalia. The movies must be X-rated.

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Apparently dirty books would be exempt from the tax, as long as they don't have pictures.

UPDATE: Miloscia just called back. He says California has a 25 percent tax on porn and raises about $250 million a year. He said his bill is just a dusted-off version of a 2004 bill proposed by Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, and Val Stevens, R-Arlington.

(Photo: adrian_wallett)