The state of California is staring down the barrel of a huge budget problem. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office has forecast a $20 billion shortfall, and it seems that at least one desperate lawmaker’s gray matter has melted away under the Golden State’s sunshine.

In the name of helping the cash-strapped state, Assemblyman Charles Calderon (D-Montebello) has introduced a couple of tax measures. One of these bills from the chairman of the Revenue and Taxation Committee would levy an outrageous 25% tax on porn and other sexual items sold in an “adult entertainment venue.”

If AB 2914 becomes law, the tax “would cover the gamut of adult entertainment” according to Calderon. That gamut not only includes adult magazines and videos, but also strip shows and even sex toys.

Some people refer to Calderon’s proposal as a “skin tax.” We think it more fitting to call it a “dildo tax,” in part for its nature, and in part for its perpetrator.

When the measure was initially considered in mid-May, it’s little wonder a coalition of porn stars, strippers, and others in adult entertainment packed the halls of the California State Capitol in Sacramento to lobby against it. Many of these girls already take it in the rear plenty enough. They don’t need the government joining in the fray. Besides, when politicians want to get some action like that, they usually have the decency to pay for it. Just ask Eliot Spitzer.

Calderon has attempted to justify such confiscatory taxation by insisting that the adult entertainment industry creates a disproportionate burden on the state’s budget. He claims, "Drugs are heavily used. The actors have a short life span. Some leave the industry drug-addicted with no skills. They wind up availing themselves of Medi-Cal and other state programs."

Who’s to say that most of these people wouldn’t have become drug addicts even without their foray into porn? Calderon and the rest of the citizens of California should be grateful for the wages porn stars manage to earn and the taxes they pay during their careers.

Why would Calderon gripe about short life spans among adult performers? After all, the sooner they croak, the sooner they quit being leeches on the state’s social services.

As for skills, of course porn stars have no job skills (other than the “blow” variety). One overriding factor in why many people go into porn in the first place is because they’re no good at anything else.

Some argue that not only would Calderon’s proposal do little to ease California’s looming financial crisis, it would also likely cost the state an estimated $3.5 billion in business. Since the tax would affect production, distribution, and internet downloads of adult entertainment, the San Fernando Valley, also known as the Hollywood of porn, would likely be decimated if the tax were enacted.

Industry insiders say production costs are already at the point that, in some cases, it’s cheaper to make movies in places like Budapest. Calderon’s “dildo tax” would only encourage adult moviemakers to shoot elsewhere.

If this happens, Governor Jindal, an anti-tax Republican trying to lure new business to Louisiana, would be wise to court these executives and encourage them to relocate to the Bayou State. We have a burgeoning film industry, our population is already accustomed to getting the shaft, and we have a robust petroleum industry to provide copious amounts of lube.