JCR Blog

Maybe we should rename our congressional delegation the "Vice Squad." Senator Grassley's finance committee will consider a bill that would impose significant tax penalties on people working in the sex trade. From CNN:

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.

Curiously, there is opposition to the legislation.

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."

If the local strip club is engaged in prostitution, I would hope it would be targeted. To be fair to Ms. Leigh, she's not the only one who doesn't seem to understand this legislation. Brian at Iowa Voice doesn't get it either.

It's not clear whether this will be included on the American Values Agenda with Jim Leach's gambling bill, but it wouldn't be a bad idea.