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OUR PIMPIN' SENATOR

June 28, 2006

I've said before that legislators look on the tax law as the Swiss Army Knife of public policy -- it can be used for anything. Senator Grassley now looks to use it to stamp out pimping:

Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, wants the Internal Revenue Service to chase after pimps and sex traffickers with the same fervor it stalked gangster Al Capone for tax evasion.

Grassley, R-Iowa, would hit pimps with fines and lengthy prison sentences for failing to file employment forms and withhold taxes for the women and girls under their command.

I'm no fan of white slavery, but is this really where we need the IRS to spend its enforcement budget? The IRS has more than it can handle just dealing with the ordinary tax nonsense Senator Grassley and his colleagues pile onto the code every year.

Some problems just aren't really tax problems, but for each problem some legislator has a tax solution. That's why if the tax law were a Swiss Army Knife, it would be one that you would need a crew of engineers to operate and a railcar to move.

Hat tip: Instapundit.
Russ Fox has more.

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