Nevada spurns brothels' tempting offer
By Kathleen Hennessey
The Associated Press
MOUND HOUSE, Nev. — Nevada's legal brothels are feeling
like the wife who slips into her sexiest negligee and still
can't get her husband to put the newspaper down.
The bordellos are practically begging the state of Nevada to
tax them, hoping the extra revenue for schools, parks and health
care will endear them to the public, give them more political
security and, ultimately, more business.
But the politicians are not interested.
Last month, one proposal to impose the tax failed to come to
a vote in an Assembly committee; another was gutted in a Senate
committee. A spokesman for Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn said the
idea was "not something the governor is going to waste any
time on."
"The governor just thinks it's a local-government issue
and not part of his agenda," spokesman Greg Bortolin said.
"He thinks, as well, that he would be affirming the
industry if he came out in support of the bill."
Nevada is the only state where prostitution is legal. But the
state keeps the industry at arm's length: It does not levy a
business tax on houses of ill repute, it bars them from
advertising and it doesn't allow them in the state's biggest
urban area, Las Vegas.
The decision of whether to allow prostitution is made on a
county-by-county basis, with state law largely silent on the
matter. "We're the only industry in the state that in one
move of the Legislature or the governor can be swept away
entirely," said Nevada Brothel Association lobbyist George
Flint. "If more people move to this state with Nebraska or
Iowa or California license plates, the old Nevada mentality that
always tolerated us is going to be diluted."
So Flint came up with a solution: "Look, if we
contribute and do nice things for the state, maybe the state
will like us better."
Two years ago during a budget shortage, the brothels came
close to getting their wish, but last-minute negotiations
inadvertently exempted them from a tax on live entertainment.
This year, they had an unlikely ally in an anti-prostitution
lawmaker who sponsored a measure proposing a tax of about $2 a
customer. It was expected to bring about $3.2 million to the
state in the next two fiscal years. "I don't believe in
legal prostitution, but I'm not a zealot about it, either,"
said the sponsor, Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, a Democrat from
Reno. "They're a legal business, they should contribute
like every other legal business."
Brothels are legal in 10 of Nevada's 17 counties, which
charge a quarterly business fee ranging from $100 to $20,000 and
a work-permit fee of $50 a prostitute. Some counties get up to
25 percent of their business fees from brothels.
But many brothel owners are willing to pay more. The state's
28 bordellos make $20 million to $50 million annually, said
Geoff Arnold, president of the Nevada Brothel Association.
Precious, a prostitute at the Shady Lady Ranch, about 120
miles outside Las Vegas, said that even if the owners pass the
tax on to the women, it won't be a problem. "What's a
couple extra dollars off?" she said.
Prostitutes at Shady Lady make up to $1,000 daily during peak
tourist season, she said.
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