12/19/2013 – Nevada – Its tax time and ladies, there is only one way you’re gonna be able to justify to Uncle Sam writing off your boob job, garter belt, leather whip and Mr Jiggles vibrator…. get at job at one of the legal brothels in Nevada. But not for long if Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn had his way.
In Coburn’s 2013 ‘Wastebook,’ Nevada’s brothel industry came in at no. 6 in a ranking of programs and legal loopholes that define financial excess in the federal budget.
Entitled ‘Pimping the Tax Code,’ Coburn points out that tax payers are basically subsidizing prostitution to the tune of $17.5 million dollars — and Coburn finds that fact pretty hard to swallow!
Through the tax code, Uncle Sam is assisting the operation of the legal brothels in Nevada. Thesebusinesses are antiquated practices from the days of the state’s silver boom starting in the 1850s, yet they still manage to get special treatment in the tax code through exemptions designed for businesses.Though prostitution is illegal almost everywhere in the nation, the federal tax code still allows brothels to qualify for standard business deductions and expenses.These deductions significantly reduce a brothel’s overall federal income tax liability, even though annual revenues for the industry have been approximately $50 million. All while other sectors of the economy shriveled. Brothels can take deductions for groceries, “salaries and wages of prostitutes, rent, utilities and taxes and licenses.”The Mustang Ranch brothel, which was Nevada’s oldest, reduced its income tax liability by also deducting costs of “promotion,” which included “free passes.” Workers are also allowed business deductions. “breast implants and…costumes” have also been ruled allowable deductions by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Workers can also deduct the cost of “equipment for that specialized stuff,” noted one tax expert.About 19 legal brothels currently exist in Nevada.Only 10 counties out of 3,007 in the United Statesallow prostitution, and all are in Nevada.The counties alone have just 300,000 people. Brothels are hardly economic drivers for communities since most “are in rural areas with few people.”Even though prostitution is deemed illegal under nearly every law in the nation, Congress must explicitly disallow businesses – legal or illegal – from making such deductions from their tax liability. The IRS argued before the Supreme Court that illegal activities should qualify for normal deductions, but the Court placed the buck on Congress to make that point explicit, which it has failed to do. A number of federal laws already limit the scope of what businesses are allowed to deduct, but brothels are not mentioned. At least one prominent Nevada lawmaker has noted that allowing the practice gives the Silver state a bad name: “Nevada needs to be known as the first place for innovation and investment – not as the lastplace where prostitution in still legal.” — Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn
In case you were wondering, that “one prominent Nevada lawmaker” was Sen. Harry Reid.
So apparently, regardless if you patronize a legal brothel in Nevada or not, you’re still getting screwed by them!
Click here to read the entire ‘Wastebook’ and the 99 other things Coburn is pissed off about.
