NEW YORK, NY — Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley believes he has a brilliant solution to ending prostitution and pimping. His answer to the age old morality issue is taxes – and more jail time.“This vile crime is under our noses in the United States,” he insists, “and it’s a no-brainer to have the IRS go after sex traffickers. Prosecuting these tax code violations can get these guys off the street and yank from their grasp the girls and women they exploit.”
The Catch-22 Grassley hopes to catch sex workers and their pimps with involves creating an office in the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation unit dedicated exclusively to busting whores for not paying taxes on their income.
The so-called “pimp tax” was passed today by the Senate Finance Committee andincludes more jail time for those who fail to report their wages. Of course, those who do report will also run the risk of jail time since their work is currently illegal within most of the United States.
The new law authorizes a minimum of $2 million to go toward the establishment of the new IRS unit and doles out harsh criminal penalties.
Grassley’s office insists that the tax will be an effective deterrent against international sex trafficking, which it claims primarily involves the forced prostitution and virtual imprisonment of girls ages 13 through 17.
According to Grassley, “The thugs who run the trafficking rings are exploiting society’s poorest girls and women for personal gain.”
Carol Leigh, a representative for San Francisco area sex worker advocacy network BAYSWAN condemns the new law for attacking the wrong target.
According to Leigh, “Forced labor, kidnapping should be targeted, but this legislation broadly targets the sex trade in general and could target your local strip club.” Of special importance to the men and women served by BAYSWAN’s advocacy and supposedly victimized by the sex trade, is the fact that, as Leigh explains it, “Those of us who work in the industry understand that this does nothing to improve conditions I our industry.”
Leigh would prefer to see laws move in an entirely different direction.
“We want laws enforced against those who abuse us, against those who are violent, and enforcement of labor regulations.” As Leigh sees it, “This is the only truly effective way to protect the welfare of the women who work in the industry.”
Instead, the law calls for increased jail time for convicted sex workers and makes it easier for the IRS to guestimate the income earned by them without actually having supporting documentation. Under the new regulations, a pimp could get as many as 10 years in prison for each prostitute working for them without a filed W-2.
