The IRS could soon make it harder out there for pimps

A key piece of business facing the Senate Finance Committee today is a proposal by its chairman to tax certain sex crimes.

Yep, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), wants the IRS to make it harder out there for pimps.

Grassley says he's using the tax collector's most famous criminal take-down as a model: He wants the IRS to go after pimps and sex traffickers with the same fervor it employed in arresting gangster Al Capone for tax evasion.

"The thugs who run these trafficking rings are exploiting society's poorest girls and women for personal gain," Grassley told the Associated Press. "The IRS goes after drug traffickers. It can go after sex traffickers."

Under current law, the tax agency has to prove a prostitute's or pimp's income to pursue a tax law violation. But Grassley's bill would allow prison terms for simply not filing the proper employer tax paperwork and withholding taxes. A pimp could get up to 10 years in prison for each prostitute for whom the pimp hasn't filed a W-2.

The measure also would make certain tax crimes a felony when the money comes from a criminal activity. A one-year prison sentence and $25,000 fine would become a 10-year sentence and $50,000 fine for each employment form that a pimp or sex trafficker fails to file.

I appreciate the effort to collect all the missing tax dollars. I agree that everyone should pay their fair tax share regardless of how they earn their income.

And women and girls who are used and abused need any and all the help they can get.

But the cynical realistic part of me sees this falling squarely into the "heading back to the District for the July 4th holiday break" category, where pious politicians can posture about the "morality" of the bill, along with other popular midterm election topics like immigration and flag burning and same-sex marriage.

Here's what other bloggers and news sites have to say about the Grassley pimp-tax bill:

• Hip Hop News   
• UPI 
• CNN   
• Lone Star Times   
• Philly Burbs
• SFGate (AP story)
  

Y'all out there on the streets, watch out now.