Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa is hoping to stamp out the sex trade by taxing pimps and prostitutes, then jailing them when they don’t pay.

Uh-huh……

If passed, the provision will authorize at least $2 million toward the establishment of an office in the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation unit to prosecute unlawful sex workers for violations of tax laws.

Which is, of course, exactly what we need…. more power to the IRS and government bureaucracy.

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.

So let’s see if I have this right. A pimp would be required to file a W-2 for all of his hoes, both of which are illegal professions to begin with, and if he doesn’t he would face 10 years in prison. 10 years, mind you, not for being a pimp or advancing in the illegal act of prostitution itself, but for not filing tax forms on them……..

Oh, brother………..

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/06/27/pimp.tax/