Monday, January 26, 2009

Play to Pay

In Nevada, the brothentrepreneurs offer to pay protection money:
A lobbyist for the $50 million ... a year industry is asking state legislators to consider taxing brothels as a way to raise extra revenue for Nevada, which is facing a $2 billion budget shortfall, and to protect his industry from being criminalised.

George Flint, director of the Nevada Brothel Association, said that he saw the offer as "something of an insurance policy" against a possible future decision by the state to outlaw the industry, which was legalised in 1971.

Nevada is the only US state where prostitution is legal, although it is confined to counties with a population of under 400,000. Brothels are subject to local taxes but at present pay only $100 to the state for a business licence fee.

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