Source: AP
By:
(ROME, ITALY) — Italian lawmakers rejected Thursday a government-proposed extraordinary tax to be levied on the manufacture, distribution and sale of pornographic magazines, films and video tapes.
The Chamber of Deputies voted by 250 to 57 to drop two clauses from proposed financial legislation which would have imposed a 25 percent levy on the material.
When Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative government announced the proposal last month it sparked a debate among those opposed to such a high levy and others who contended the government should ban porn outright and not make money from it.
The governing coalition enjoys a commanding majority in Parliament but lawmakers were allowed to decide individually how they wished to vote on the so-called "porno tax".
