Watching Porn Not A Cultural Activity
March 19, 2010 1 Comment
Watching porn in a private booth in a sex shop isn’t exactly what I would call a cultural event.
A sex shop owner has been trying to get tax exemptions since 2004 that are given to other cultural events in Belgium.
Not surprisingly, the final answer is no, The Erotic Cinema is not eligible for these exemptions.
The Court ruled that “payment made by a customer so as to be able to watch on his own one or more films, or extracts from films, in private cubicles cannot benefit from the reduced rate of VAT applicable to cinema admissions and other such cultural events”.
So does this mean live sex shows or group movie viewings would count?
I think many people have watched porn with friends and lovers, but how could they claim it as a cultural event? Perhaps a discussion of the camera angles and script writing (ha!)?
I can’t believe he was trying for six years; that’s real dedication to what was clearly a losing case from the beginning.
But I am glad he was pushing the boundaries of the law. Sex should be a normal and accepted part of society and even if he didn’t win perhaps this will do something to make the judges think in a more sex-positive way.
An event involving a single person cannot, by definition, be cultural event because one person does not a culture make.
However if any of the film is shown to anyone else at any time, then it is more than one person experiencing it, right? And therefore it has the ability to impact culture.
It’s the difference between spending an evening watching a private home movie and watching 30 Rock. So unless these films are immediately destroyed after one viewing then they are part of our culture, whether we like it or not. (Mick)