Nevada May Tax Hookers to Spare Casino Gambling

Casino gambling is taxed less in Nevada than any other state, but casinos are also the most powerful political lobby, so lawmakers are turning in any other direction to find a new activity to tax, including prostitution.

Nevada, like so many states, is searching desperately for new sources of revenue to offset recessional effects. Casino gambling is taxed less in Nevada than any other state, but casinos are also the most powerful political lobby, so lawmakers are turning in any other direction to find a new activity to tax, including prostitution.

While illegal in Clark County, the location of Las Vegas, hooking is allowed in other Nevada counties. And brothels don't have anything near the political power of casinos and gambling operators, so hookers are faced with a proposed five-dollar fee on sex acts.

Casinos have fought vigorously to avoid a raise in Nevada gaming taxes. Already, a measure increasing the room tax for hotels has been pushed ahead of plans to adjust gambling taxes. After all, observers point out, room taxes are easy to pass along without costing a corporate penny.

Amazingly enough, unlike the American Gaming Association, the Nevada Brothel Owners Association has no problem paying a tax. Members of the sex industry feel so stigmatized, they actually welcome taxation as a sign of acceptance and integration into society.

"The bottom line is that the Chicken Ranch is a legal business," said Bob Fisher, a spokesman for the famous brothel. "Why should we be looked at any differently or not be given the same respect as any other business?"

As so-called sin taxes, or enjoyment taxes, sweep the nation biting smoking, drinking, and gambling, sex remains as the last threshold. If hooking is taxed, can it be too far before all sex acts require payment to the government?