Italy- The global financial crisis is hitting some countries harder than others and opportunities to tax “unwanted” industries are not being overlooked at all, at least, not in Italy.

The Government of Italy, headed by President Silvio Berlusconi decided to apply a special tax on materials and artistic expressions related to pornography. The measure, approved yesterday by the Council of Ministers (what Trinidad and Tobago would call a Cabinet) to fight the ongoing global financial crisis, establishes a tax of 25% that will be applied to pornographic newspapers and magazines, including DVDs and associated products.

The Italian Government left no room for doubt as the tax covers “all literary, theatrical, cinematographic, audiovisual and multimedia works, including those made and reproduced with computer or tele-matic support, in which there are sexually explicit images or scenes … by adults,” Section 31 of the Article says.

The “porn tax” was initially proposed in 2002 by Vittorio Emanuele Falsita, the then Parliamentary Representative of the Italian political party Forza Italia (Italian Force) – founded by Berlusconi in 1994 -, but was never applied.

The Government has established what it considers pornography but the Executive will still have to appprove a decree within two months in which all the details will be given and the different categories established, including what is sexually explicit and what is not, Italian media said today.