Psychic Must Pay State Fortune Teller Tax

Psychic Must Pay State Fortune Teller Tax

WASHINGTON (CN) - The 4th Circuit refused to reverse a decision dismissing the First Amendment complaint of a Virginia psychic who claimed her county's $300 business tax violates her rights.

Sophie King, who says she's a "spiritual counselor" and not a fortune teller, lost her bid to shirk $343.75 in fortune teller license tax, penalties and accrued interest when a district court judge affirmed Chesterfield County's regulatory rights while dismissing King's speech as "quintessential deception."

King appealed, but the federal appeals court affirmed the ruling, though Circuit Judge Allyson Duncan stated that predicting the future does garner limited protections under the First Amendment.

"If, as the County contended at oral argument, all predictive speech were inherently deceptive, most religious prophesy, financial prognostication, and medical diagnosis would fall outside the scope of constitutional protection," Duncan states.

In her 2009 complaint, King said she is "not interested in future events," but offers spiritual counseling through 'tarot, Reiki, energy healing, astrology and psychic, clairvoyant, clairaudient, and medium abilities."

http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/03/06/55489.htm