The War on Porn Regular Updates about the Assault on The Adult Industry
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WASHINGTON—Somewhere between the fine print and the culture war headlines, tax officials at the Internal Revenue Service now find themselves staring down an oddly philosophical assignment: deciding what counts as online pornography—and who, exactly, qualifies as an adult content creator—while implementing the Trump administration’s so-called “no tax on tips” provision tucked into the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The initial draft guidance for the deduction applies only to “qualified tips” earned by a limited list of approved professions, a list that notably includes “digital content creators.”
That sounds simple enough at first glance—until you realize the law never actually defines what a “digital content creator” is. The guidance carves out an exception, barring deductions tied to illegal activity, prostitution, escorting, and pornography. Tips connected to “pornographic activity are not qualified tips,” the IRS notes. Clear words, blurry boundaries.
Because what is pornography, anyway? The term doesn’t come with a neat statutory definition. Instead, IRS officials—auditors and law enforcement agents in the agency’s criminal investigations division among them—are reportedly expected to apply a looser, almost old-school standard of “obscenity,” meaning they’ll rely on something closer to “knowing it when they see it.”
The exemption itself didn’t come out of nowhere. It was pushed by a coalition of Christian nationalist and conservative advocacy groups who lobbied hard to ensure adult creators would be excluded.
In a joint letter sent in September—led by Advancing American Freedom, an organization founded by former Vice President Mike Pence—the groups urged Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to block deductions for adult content creators or any tipped professionals engaged in what they labeled “pornographic activity.”
“Rather than distort Congress’ language, Treasury should stick to the statute: providing tax relief for the waiters, hairdressers, delivery drivers, and other workers who make up America’s proud service industries,” reads the letter dated Sept. 18, falsely framing adult content creation as a moral hazard standing outside legitimate work.
“We, the undersigned organizations, urge you to ensure pornographic content creators are not included under Treasury’s definition of eligible entities,” the groups wrote. “Our government should not give tax breaks to predatory industries that profit from exploiting young men and women, destroying marriages, families, and lives.”
The IRS guidance arrived just days after that letter went public. Among the groups involved were the Family Research Council and the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Many of the signatories are classified as anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-government hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center and
Other participating organizations have connections to Project 2025, the controversial Heritage Foundation initiative that has openly called for outlawing pornography altogether. Several of the same groups are also on record pushing for age-verification mandates across adult websites, mainstream social platforms, and mobile app stores.
Nate Mallory, a tax attorney who works extensively with adult industry clients, previously said the “no tax on tips” provision would almost certainly leave creators on platforms like OnlyFans, LoyalFans, Fansly, and others out in the cold. Mallory put it bluntly: “Tax policy should be based on economic principles, not moral judgments.”
