Iowa residents could find themselves paying extra — a lot extra — for sex toys and pornography if a recently proposed bill passes the Iowa Legislature.

The bill, which would add a 25 percent tax on all sales and rentals at adult bookstores in Iowa, has begun to stir some opposition.

The bill, HF2242, referred to as the “Adult Enterprises Excise Tax Act,” would apply the tax to everything purchased in an adult bookstore including: condoms, dildos, vibrators, pornographic magazines and videos, video rentals and all tickets and admissions to adult stores.

Rep. Dick Taylor, D-Cedar Rapids, the bill’s author, said as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, it is his job to come up with “creative” solutions to garner more income.

“I’m not an evangelical-type person — this is merely a tax bill,” he said. “I think they can afford it.”

Taylor said his idea to apply a tax to the establishments came when he drove past a large adult bookstore near the Baxter exit along Interstate 80.

“[My wife and I] went in and looked it over and saw how much money they made,” he said. “We were only there for 20 minutes or so, but they took in a lot of revenue in that time.”

Ames has two adult book stores: Pleasure Palace II, 117 Kellogg Ave., and Peep Land, 520 S. Duff Ave.

These businesses are both part of a large chain of adult bookstores managed by Goalie Entertainment, which owns 11 stores throughout Iowa and more than 60 nationwide.

Taylor compared the activity at adult bookstores to gambling or any other adult entertainment and said the industry should be taxed accordingly.

However, Robert DePiano, an attorney representing Goalie Entertainment, said any comparison to gambling would be inaccurate because gambling is not protected by the First Amendment.

He said the bill singles out certain types of expressive material and taxes them differently than others.

“The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on cases like this several times and these sorts of discriminatory taxes were found unconstitutional in violation of the First Amendment’s freedom of press guarantee,” he said.

DePiano said he would counsel Goalie Entertainment to challenge the bill depending on its final version.

“You don’t need Albert Einstein to tell you this wouldn’t be good for business,” he said.

As a result of this tax, prices of sex-related items could soar. Businesses can collect the tax by adding it to the sales price of all items sold, according to the bill.

“I think it punishes people who are safely trying to express their sexuality,” said Erica Carnes, junior in political science and member of ISU Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance. “I don’t think there’s necessarily any way around it, though. If you want porn, you’ll pay for it.”

Nearly 40 other legislators, including Rep. Jane Greimann, D-Ames, have signed the bill.

“[I] would not be unhappy to cut into the number of people frequenting adult enterprises,” Greimann said in an e-mail message.

The bill states all proceeds from the tax would be set aside to provide grants to care providers providing services to victims of domestic abuse, rape and sexual assault.

Taylor said he thought the allocation of the money in this way was appropriate. However, Nichole Feuerstein, president of the ISU Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance and junior in women’s studies, said she personally disagreed. She said linking higher taxes on pornographic materials, which can be empowering to women, to funding programs for abuse victims infers a negative link between the two.

“I think [Taylor] is making a lot of assumptions about the negative effects of pornography on women when little evidence exists to prove that,” she said.