Posted on 06/28/2006 4:21:36 AM PDT by misterrob
Grassley: 'It's a no-brainer to have the IRS go after sex traffickers'
Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa is hoping to stamp out the sex trade by taxing pimps 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 prosecute unlawful sex workers for violations of tax laws.
SNIP
Grassley said the problem is "especially horrible" when underage girls are involved.
Asked if taxing sex workers would legitimize their trade, a Grassley spokesman said the goal was simply to find "yet another alternative to track the money flowing in this industry to get at potential criminals."
Currently, the IRS has to prove a prostitute's or pimp's income to pursue a tax law violation. But under Grassley's proposal, a pimp could get up to 10 years in prison for each prostitute for whom the pimp hasn't filed a W-2, which means a pimp caught with 10 unregistered prostitutes faces a century in prison.
Carol Leigh, a representative of the Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network in San Francisco, California, called the proposal short-sighted.
"Forced labor, kidnapping should be targeted. But this legislation broadly targets the sex trade in general, and could target your local strip club," Leigh said. "We want laws enforced against those who abuse us, against those who are violent, and enforcement of labor regulations. That is the only truly effective way to protect the welfare of the women who work in the industry."
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
More on the pimp tax.
The first time I saw this I asumed it was an old man's nutty wet dream. However, arresting prostitutes is just a revolving door that has them back on the street in no time. It is the most degraded life I have ever seen.
How about arresting illegal aliens and their employers who evade taxes by paying cash under the table, using phony social security numbers and false identity papers? This would be a much bigger revenue source than prostitution.
It is?
More likely it's a stunt for publicity, it's unfortunate that the only time you can get this gov't to enforce any laws is when theres money involved.
Public servants....nope just tax collectors.
I did a title search and this didn't come up but it looks like NewsMax has it under a different title.
Feel free to pull.
Absolutely. If the people want it, we should pay for it.
No, I think it's a different article. Newsmax just posted their more undiplomatic version.
I'm not so sure the Fair Tax eliminating the business to business tax would be a good thing in this case.
I can't wait to see if Kennedy votes for it.
But somehow it bothers me that the most intimate act of two humans is being spoken of like an assembly line widget. I guess in the superficial world of today, it isn't surprising that even sex should be stripped of any emotional dimension, and reduced to its bestial essence.
Pols have about drained all they can out of cigarette taxes, so they have to look for other sources.
Prostitutes and pimps. Then drug dealers? Next, burglers?
Does Senator Grassley seriously think they are going to file tax reports? What a dolt.
Oh really?! Care to share more :)
What? I didn't know politicians don't pay tax! This is an outrage.
they are already taxed. Like Al Capone, if they do not declare their income, they are already breaking the law.
Get proof of them receiving non taxed income and send them to jail. No new laws are needed.
where is Eliot Ness now that we really need him.
Exactly. Why aren't IRS agents going after crack dealers and meth labs too? The LSD network at Grateful Dead shows are a target...
If it keeps those auditors busy, and away from productive businesses, I'm all for it actually. And perhaps if a few agents get smacked around in the hood by pimps and dealers, fewer people will bother to apply for such a slimy job.
I'm incredibly wary of anything that extends the reach of the IRS, especially when non-compliance is not only anticipated, but counted on. This is an abuse of the rule of law.
I'm against sex trafficking, but I could just as easily say that the IRS could implement other rules that they know people aren't going to follow, like printing overly complicated forms, just to increase their revenue from the fines they know it will generate.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.