Taxing Sex

Taxing Sex

This may shock you. In this state we have huge income from various sin taxes. We have a tax on alcohol, on nicotine addiction (tobacco), and income from gambling on the lottery and video poker machines. When marijuana is legalized here, as it is in Washington, we will have a tax on that. What we don’t have is a tax on sex.

Not all sex is a sin, of course, but prostitution is. It’s time the state intervened and acknowledged the sex workers, both male and female. If the state made sex workers state employees, and provided clean and safe places to work, a.k.a bordellos, with a pension plan and health benefits we would take the amateurs off the street and put the pimps out of business.

This brings to mind a series of changes in the law, e.g. prostitution without a license and IRS rules about deductibles for sex toys and various accouterments connected with the trade. The state is already a shill for gambling, and a dealer in alcohol and other addictive drugs, so why not the state as procurer, e.g. pimp?  

Legalizing and controlling the sex trade would also protect health of the sex workers and reduce the risk of what is clearly a sometimes dangerous profession. But if sex workers were licensed, like many professions such as lawyers, doctors, hair dressers and barbers, they would benefit. And if there were a tax on their services, the state would take in a ton of money we could spend on health care, schools, and public housing.

A tax on sex would be an all around winner.