Tax that pimp

June 28, 2006

I’ve heard the argument from those who want to legalize prostitution that the “industry” could produce quite a bit of revenue for government treasuries: if [tag]prostitution[/tag] were legal, it could be [tag]taxed[/tag].

Apparently, at least one Republican senator has heard this, too.

Republican Sen. Charles [tag]Grassley[/tag] of Iowa is hoping to stamp out the sex trade by taxing [tag]pimp[/tag]s and prostitutes, then jailing them when they don’t pay.

The Senate Finance Committee is expected to vote Wednesday morning on the pimp tax. The bill also calls for more jail time for sex workers.

If passed, the provision will authorize at least $2 million toward the establishment of an office in the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation unit to [tag]prosecute[/tag] unlawful sex workers for violations of [tag]tax[/tag] laws.

So, if a pimp requires prostitutes to fill out W-2 forms and follows the requisite withholdings, will he or she be eligible for tax breaks for small businesses?

yeah. because that worked so well back in 1937 with the marijuana tax stamp act.

  • Is Grassley trying to start a bad pun contest? Will we hear the end of “pimp my tax revenue” jokes? Why doesn’t he tax pot, crack and meth while he’s at it? Hey, maybe a terrorism tax will put an end to those guys too.

    What a waste of time this Congress is.

  • More importantly, why not just send the Police to the address on the tax returns to arrest people who list “Pimp” or “Ho” as thier occupation? This is nuts. Why not propose taxing drug dealers. Senator Blowhard “We are missing a lucrative revenue stream that could save our budget for the next fiscal year. By forcing drug dealers to list their income as taxable, we can capitalize on the black market for illegal drugs.”

    This is got to be a joke- right?

  • Are uniforms taxable (spandex & platform heals)?
    What about safety gear (condoms) ?
    Can they count non-paying Johns as bad debt ?
    Does the family leave act apply ?
    What about workers comp for lock jaw ?

  • It’s hard out there for a pimp… when you’ve got all those W-4s to keep track of.

  • i guess most of you were unaware that marijuana IS currently taxed, via the aforementioned tax stamp act. various states have different tax structures for it. this is not a new idea. nor is it one that “works” in any real sense.

  • I’m not an expert on tax law, but wouldn’t pimps and prostitutes already be subject to criminal prosecution if they fail to report their, ah, “work”-related income? Why is a new law necessary?

  • What a crock.

    These Republican assholes have eviscerated the enforcement budget of the IRS, so that the Federales no longer can afford to go after the Big Time Tax Cheats (a synonym for “Bush Pioneers”), since they all have lawyers, make a fight of it, and cost money to recover from that the IRS no longer has. So now they put their enforcement on small taxpayers who might owe enough to buy 3-4 magazines of small-arms rounds for the next firefight in Iraq, since these folks don’t have $1,000 to give a lawyer to fight a $3,000 (or frequently smaller) lien. But then, Screw The Non-Rich is the GOP mantra.

    If Grassley thinks any of this would actually work, he’s even dumber than I have been giving him credit for, and I have been giving him a lot of credit.

  • So what’s Grassley’s record on tax cuts/increases? Was he for tax cuts before he was for tax increases?

  • “I’m not an expert on tax law, but wouldn’t pimps and prostitutes already be subject to criminal prosecution if they fail to report their, ah, “work”-related income? Why is a new law necessary?” – James D.

    New laws aren’t necessary. Just money for an enforcement department in the IRS. Of course, as any vice cop would tell you, this is going to be one big source of corruption if the IRS is not careful.

    But than, that may be the Republican’ts intention. Make the IRS incapable of generating revenue and everybody will throw up their hands and agree to end the income tax and go to a national sales tax.

  • Damn. and i’ve already admitted before in here that i am from Iowa. first Steve King, now this.

    Iowa’s prior Rethug governor implemented an extensive drug tax stamp program, so maybe its the water they serve at Iowa Rethug Conventions (the drug tax stamps became collectors items, by the way — the main people who buy them do so as a gimmick, but likely spend the rest of their days under surveillance).

    my bet (before they require gambling stamps): the program costs more to implement than it could ever take in fines or seizures. more astute federal budgeting by those Republican’ts who can’t balance the budget, can’t run the economy, and can’t resist every last step to criminalize sex.

  • Grassley fancies himself an old testament patriarch. As an Iowa resident, I have sent him dozens of emails and faxes concerning
    issues brought to my attention by the ACLU. He always responds, pro forma, and never agrees. A man with his ‘vision’ need never deliberate.

  • James D and Lance:

    The IRS considers all income as taxable, unless you are a non-profit organization. Current tax law is sufficient. It’s how they got Al Capone, after all. He didn’t go to prison for murder, bootlegging, or any of his other criminal endeavors. He got sent up for tax evasion.

    My opinion on this issue (as well as the drug issue) is to legalize it, regulate it, tax it, and use part of the revenue to set up a program for those who want to get out of it.

    But then again, when has a common sense approach ever been taken by the government, let alone the repugnant party.

  • Would this imply an additional tax on Bush’s rubber stamp CongrASS since most of them are total whores for their campaign contributors and lobbyists? Where would an oil company or Carlyle Group whore fall into this or would Shrub and Pencil Dick Cheney be considered the pimps? Diebold could market a condom meter to regulate this. Oh, I forgot. The Republiskunks are afraid of condoms.
    On a side note, how many Republiskunks would be willing to be a patient of Bill Frist after his retirement from political orifice?

  • Real Republican logic: Let’s tax crime!
    Is it defacto legalization?
    Why not tax other crimes too….if “they” don’t pay we’ll throw ’em in jail.
    Ha ha ha ha ha!

  • or maybe Ohi-ho. anywhere but Iowa.
    (ialawyer? where in ia, lawyer? to put it mildly, i know a few lawyers in ia.)

  • Michael W:

    Yah, I knew that. However, it takes a lot of money to get taxes out of a section of the underground economy, and Prostitution is certainly that. In fact, I doubt we could get more revenue than it would cost to find it.

    Which reminds me of a story on NPR yesterday about a new rule on Welfare requiring all receipants to prove they are U.S. citizens. Each state has to hire new staff to determine the applicants and current receipants eligability. This requirement may end up costing more money in new staff than it saves from excluding illegal immigrants.

    Stupid, the Congress is sometimes.

  • Arent they protected by the 5th Amendment from declaring illegal income (i.e. self-incrimination?)

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