Utah Is Now Taxing Porn Like Cigarettes. Here’s Why That Matters.

Devin McDermott · Porn recovery coach with 5+ years experience and 1,900+ days clean. Has helped 155+ men break free. About →

In 1998, the attorneys general of 46 states sat down across the table from Big Tobacco.

They had the research. They had the lawsuits. They had the dead bodies.

They walked out with a $206 billion settlement. And the beginning of the end for cigarettes as a “personal choice.”

Last Thursday, Utah did something that reminded me of that moment.

Utah’s SB 73: Treating Porn Like Tobacco

Governor Cox signed SB 73 into law.

Adult sites operating in Utah now get hit with a 2% tax. Companies that fail age verification get fined heavily. The whole thing modeled directly after tobacco regulation.

The state looked at adult content and said: we’re treating this the same way we treat cigarettes.

Governments tax everything. But they don’t slap targeted, punitive taxes on harmless hobbies.

They reserve those for public health crises.

Alcohol. Tobacco. Gambling.

Now this.

And Utah isn’t alone. Twenty-five states have passed similar laws. This isn’t one rogue politician in one conservative state trying to score points.

This is infrastructure being built. Quietly and systematically, across the country.

From Fringe Podcasts to State Law

A rapper discussing semen retention on a mainstream podcast. A politician confessing to a lifelong addiction he swore he didn’t have.

Those were individuals.

This is an institution.

The article covering Utah’s bill cited Joe Rogan and Theo Von as part of the cultural shift. When podcasts with tens of millions of listeners start treating it like a threat, the fringe becomes the mainstream.

And when state legislatures start writing laws around the same thing… that’s a signal.

Truth is, this has been building for a while. The research on porn’s consequences has gotten louder every year. More brain imaging studies. More clinical data. More guys showing up to therapy with the same damn story.

Five years ago, if you told someone you quit watching porn, they’d look at you like you said you quit breathing.

Now the government is taxing it like Marlboros.

You don’t have to wait for a state bill to know something’s off. If the fog, the shame, the cycle already feels familiar, that’s not paranoia. That’s pattern recognition.

Join 3,965+ men who decided to trust that instinct:

The Shift That Was Already Happening

I remember the looks I used to get when I first started talking about this stuff publicly. The “isn’t that a bit extreme?” conversations. The friends who thought I’d joined some weird internet cult.

Heck, even my own family didn’t know what to make of it at first. Coaching men through porn addiction wasn’t exactly a Thanksgiving dinner conversation starter.

I wasn’t extreme. I was early.

And if you’re reading this right now, you probably were too.

The world is catching up to what you already figured out on your own. That this thing isn’t harmless. That it costs more than people want to admit. That walking away from it is one of the highest-leverage decisions a man can make.

You didn’t need a state legislature to validate that.

But it’s nice to have one confirm it.

What the Tax Really Signals

The tax itself is the least interesting part of the story, honestly. What matters is what it signals.

When institutions start moving, it means the science got too loud to ignore. The brain imaging studies. The clinical outcomes. The neurological parallels to substance abuse that keep showing up in peer-reviewed research.

We’re past the “is this really a problem?” phase.

Deep into the “what do we do about it?” phase.

Big difference.

And the guys who figured this out years ago, who quit when everyone around them thought they were overreacting, who sat through the flatline and the weird looks and the “you’re taking this too seriously” comments…

Those guys weren’t wrong. They were ahead of the curve.

The research caught up. The culture caught up. Now the law is catching up too.

The only question left is whether you’re going to keep waiting for permission, or start moving.

Join 3,965+ men getting discreet daily insights on rewiring their brain and quitting porn for good:

Devin McDermott is a men’s recovery coach who quit a 13-year porn addiction over 5 years ago and transformed his life. After struggling and failing with conventional advice for years, he developed the Neural Reset method, combining neuroscience-based rewiring techniques with practical daily tools. He’s helped 155+ men break free from porn addiction and rebuild their confidence, relationships, and sense of self. Full bio →