It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp

It's showtime for the American Values Agenda! And what better way to kick off than with a tax on sex? CNN reports:

The Senate Finance Committee is expected to vote Wednesday morning on the pimp tax. The bill also calls for more jail time for sex workers.

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.

"Recent headlines have focused on sex trafficking in connection with the World Cup in Germany," [Sen. Grassley (R-Iowa)] said. "This vile crime is under our noses in the United States, and it's a no-brainer to have the IRS go after sex traffickers. Prosecuting these tax code violations can get these guys off the street and yank from their grasp the girls and women they exploit."

Never mind that the World Cup sex fest failed to materialize. And leave for a moment the presumption that the IRS will "get these guys off the streets." Instead, marvel at the apparent moral equivalence between commercial sex work and child slavery. As I wrote in Reason's May issue, the war on trafficking is quickly morphing into a crackdown on hooking.