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twitterProposed bill would tax prostitution at $5 per session
Senator says bill could bring $2 million a year to state coffers
Sam Morris / 2006 file photo
The lights of Sheri’s Ranch in Pahrump are reflected in the hood of a limo parked in front.
Monday, March 23, 2009 | 4:06 p.m.
Sun Archives
- Pimps, Metro’s coming for you (3-20-2009)
- Legislature will pass on legalizing prostitution in Las Vegas (2-12-2009)
- Mayor keeps prostitution legalization debate going (1-23-2009)
- Under consideration: Tax brothels, consider legalizing prostitution in Las Vegas (1-22-2009)
- Brothel industry says ‘tax us;’ state says thanks, but no thanks (12-21-2008)
- Not even prostitution is immune to economics of supply, demand (12-14-2008)
- Letters of sorrow and need (12-7-2008)
Reader poll
CARSON CITY – 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.
“I think we will support it,” George Flint, a spokesman for the state’s brothel industry, said of Coffin’s bill.
There are eight “major” brothels in the rural counties, where they are legal, and 17 smaller houses of prostitution, said Flint. The minimum charges range from $100 to $200.
Coffin said he had considered applying the state’s live entertainment tax to prostitution, but encountered some constitutional questions.
Information received by the state Department of Taxation in collecting the proposed tax would be confidential, he said. The department could publish how much it took in, so long as it didn’t identify an individual business.
Part of the receipts would be used to finance an “ombudsman for sex workers” who would help prostitutes who have complaints or want to leave prostitution and enter another profession.
Asked how the state could collect the tax from the independent street walkers, Coffin said that the business tax, when first imposed, wasn’t collected from all of those who were required to pay it.
As a new tax, the bill would require a two-thirds vote for passage.
Discussion: 28 comments so far…
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I think we should tax every politician a nickel foe every lie they tell...
We would all find the gold at the end of the rainbow in no time.
both legal and illegal?
lol!
i can just see them trying to enforce that down on east fremont.
"excuse me, sir. you are under arrest for hiring a prostitute. oh, umm...and...er...see, we umm...we need $5.00 for tax."
What's that you say Mr. Coffin, tax collection would be confidential? LOL
What's that you say Mr. Coffin, "part" would help prostitutes and the other "part" goes where? LOL
What's that again Mr. Coffin, how's the state going to collect from the independent street walkers? LMAO
The only morons that could be dumber than Senator Bob Coffin are those that voted for this tax-pimp clown.
Looks like Mr Coffin needs to borrow a couple of oars to put in the water.
Prostitution has been legal all over Europe for quite some time now and it seems to generate a pretty hefty revenue for State and Local "everyone" involved and provide more accountability to Law-enforcement, Health-providers and safety for the "patrons" who will never disapear, but gets rid of alot of "bottom trollers" as these Escort Agencies try to stay within the whatever peremiters of the law happen to be put in place,..thats what I would be working towards if I were a Brothel Owner and interested in compromising to "legallize"....
Didn't this just put a nail in his ........ coffin. LMAO.
Money grubbing is money grubbing.
I agree with randucandu, our state coffers would overflow in just one election cycle.
Does this apply to legislators when they service lobbyists?
There are enough empty rooms in the Casino hotels to add a dozen licensed brothels right next to the clients. We can get room tax and $5.00 a "session"/
Does this include the Assembly and Senate members who prostitue their sevices for the casinos, mining, and corporate interests. Coffin and the others will be broke by mid-term. They will tax themselves out of existence. Go for it.
Thank God this trillion $$$$ stimulus package will only effect the wealthy...OOOOOPPPPS....My carton of cigs just went up $15 and,Nevadas gonna raise my Beer Tax next...
Guess I'll hang out at the library and suck on a lolipop and be thankful for that.
I wish I was an illegal !!!!!
A point of fact...The brothel is located in Nye County and not the Town of Pahrump. Prostitution is not legal within the boundries of the Pahrump township.
Will the Lawmakers be able to afford $5.00 more for their hookers?
Wouldn't taxing Gibbons' dates accomplish the same thing? Or is that already in the proposed bill?
Legalize and Tax. It only makes sense.
Point #1 -- $2 million @ $5 per = 400,000 taxable events under this proposal. Where does that number come from?
Point#2 -- One of the legal definitions of "prostitution" is "the bad use which a corrupt judge makes of the law, by making it subservient to his interest; as, the prostitution of the law, the prostitution of justice." (Bouvier's 6th Edition, 1856)
@ $5 per the amount collected would likely solve the budget crisis by the end of this year, especially if the federal judges downtown were included. Bybee (just on principle) and Foley (until he graduates from a Bill of Rights refresher course taught by the "sovereign movement") alone should be able to come up with 50% of the first year's take on their own.
I don't think it's quite fair. These poor women are forced into a life where smelly strangers masturbate into their body cavities for a fleeting moment's pleasure. They risk AIDS, suffer massive psychological damage, and pay taxes to our system that encourages (pimps) this obscene behavior. Why not legalize pot instead?
I think Nevada needs to diversify its economy--establish companies in Nevada unrelated to gaming, mining, tourism or brothels. Legalizing prostitution is legalizing exploitation of women and it's not the answer. We can do better than that. It's time for Nevada to move to the next level of maturity.
Many States, including Texas, have enacted a "lap dance" tax; tax strippers!
Most these girls live in California, work as independent contractors, and go back to California with "strip" cash.
Tax strippers $5.00 and whores $2.00....seems fair...LOL.
Airweare wrote: Why not legalize pot instead?
What makes you think that it is the function and/or obligation of governments to regulate, license, tax or criminalize (publicize) individuals choosing to exercise their liberties of participating in vice activities in a private manner?
Those choosing to participate in vice activities such as drugs, prostitution or gambling should not be mandated into publicizing such choices (exposing their private choices to public scrutiny) to merely be consider 'legal' participants by governments (others).
Quite frankly, it's no one's business what vise choices other's make let alone expecting them to share their choices with those seeking to profit from them.
In short, those choosing to privately participate in vise should not be criminalized.
Moral governments need only to acknowledge the fact that vice activities have and will continue to exist in societies, not seek ways to expose, exploit and profit from those exercising their liberty of making questionable moral choices in privacy.
"We're entitled to our privacy". --Virginia Mayo
Airweare wrote: Why not legalize pot instead?
What makes you think that it is the function and/or obligation of governments to regulate, license, tax or criminalize (publicize) individuals choosing to exercise their liberties of participating in vice activities in a private manner?
Those choosing to participate in vice activities such as drugs, prostitution or gambling should not be mandated into publicizing such choices (exposing their private choices to public scrutiny) to merely be consider 'legal' participants by governments (others).
Quite frankly, it's no one's business what vice choices other's make let alone expecting them to share their choices with those seeking to profit from them.
In short, those choosing to privately participate in vice should not be criminalized.
Moral governments need only to acknowledge the fact that vice activities have and will continue to exist in societies, not seek ways to expose, exploit and profit from those exercising their liberty of making questionable moral choices in privacy.
"We're entitled to our privacy". --Virginia Mayo
"Quite frankly, it's no one's business what vice choices other's make let alone expecting them to share their choices with those seeking to profit from them"
I would be Ok with this if none of their sxxt overflow to me and other taxpayers to clean up.
It does.
If somebody wants to go see a hooker and gets AIDs or some other STD from that activity then the taxpayers often have to pick up the tab.
The same is for drugs. Drug users sometimes run off of money so they break into peoples houses to pay for their drugs. We taxpayers pay for that. The same for the drug users who want to get off drugs or OD. We taxpayers pay for that too.
Welcome to the real world which is far from your dream world.
dumb idea.
just a drop in the bucket.
next.
Th European example is pretty good. Getting the sex trade within the ambit of government regulation assists female sex workers in being able to work at a highly autonomous and often lucrative business. I, too, speculate about the psychological effect on women, but the research does not support the idea that women are very much harmed. Just a thought . . .
Work is work, stop thinking making money thru sex is soooooo evil. Sound like a bunch of kids.
Nevada could Amsterdam up a bit and millions of us residents would benefit. If we did legalize pot to attract travelers back to our sandy, salty silver state, they would drop gobs of dough on gambling, prostitution and pot. Not to mention hotels, restaurants, cabs, limos, golf courses and fun. Having an attraction makes all the difference in the world. Chumming for chumps,101.
It's called doing what's right for our society; regulating and taxing vices is a very logical strategy for a state with no other taxable revenue, now that solar energy won't work here where we have one of the finest insolation areas in the world, but such an awful government system that nobody is willing to compromise enough to generate any power with the sun. We're too busy haggling about who gets the juice.
Ok...This is stupid...$2 million per year...If we are going to tax it, TAX IT! Like any other "sin" tax.. Otherwise is it really worth $2 million, and we have to pay to collect it...
Is there no better way for a woman to earn a paycheck? Is there no better way for a guy to get off? This whole prostition as a 'profession' is disgusting and so are the guys who can't seem to get it any other way than to pay for it.
Whether legal or not, prostitution brings in big money and good on the government for thinking outside the box. Those that say that legalizing prostitution makes it more prevalent simply don't know what they are talking about. Go to any escort review site like http://www.naughtyreviews.com/ and check out the number of prostitute reviews in Las Vegas and compare it to those of say Denver. You'll find that in both cities, the prostitution industry is vibrant and strong and the only difference is that Nevada is able to reap the benefits by taxing what is already legal.