Sen. Coffin proposes bill to tax prostitution
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, proposed a tax on prostitution today that he says could raise $2 million a year for the state.
Patrons of prostitutes — both legal and illegal — would pay an extra $5 tax per session under the bill, which Coffin said was his idea alone.
In the runup to the legislative session, a lobbyist for the state's legal brothels volunteered to be taxed, an effort that some said would guarantee their continued survival. Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley turned down the industry, effectively killing the effort.
This article doesn't give Coffin's current justification for his bill, but when he floated this idea in January, he wanted money.
"I'd be happy to listen to arguments for legalization anytime," Coffin said. "In the meantime, I know we have to get some money from the world's oldest profession."
Since Sen. Coffin's bill proposes to tax customers of both legal and illegal prostitutes, I'm guessing this bill is simply a tax grab without the previous guise of legalization.
And taxing illegal activites? How's that going to work? And why not tax all illegal activities?
Now that's a way to solve Nevada's supposed budget deficit that no one has mentioned. Maybe that's what the Democratic majority's secret tax increase, err... revenue enhancement, plan is — expand the sales tax to include drugs, robberies and murders.
