Sex Worker Tax
• Sex Workers
Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa clearly thinks all sex work is bad and everyone involved in the trade should be punished. His weapon of choice: taxation and a special IRS office to target those who violate tax laws.
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.”
Grassley: ‘It’s a no-brainer to have the IRS go after sex traffickers’