About a decade ago, said George Flint, the longtime Nevada Brothel Assn. lobbyist, the famed Mustang Ranch threw a steak and lobster party for legislators. Only three showed up.
Though many brothel owners have long supported being taxed -- Flint calls it "a wonderful life insurance policy" -- they could never wrangle the votes. It probably didn't help, Flint said, the year he joked that grateful brothels would mount photos of the then-governor on their walls.
"The Nevada Legislature is like an ostrich, and with this they want to stick their head in the sand," said Eric Herzik, chairman of the political science department at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Coffin's proposal, Senate Bill 369, would require a $5 tax on a prostitute's services. The brothel association estimated that, even with business plummeting during the recession, bordellos get about 365,000 patrons a year. The bill would also establish a state ombudsman who would, in part, help steer sex workers to other professions.
The hearing ended without a vote, and the proposal will probably die in the Senate Taxation Committee unless legislators take action this week.
The plan has stirred up all sorts of scorn -- and some interesting logic.
Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons told the Las Vegas Review-Journal: "I'm not a supporter of legalizing prostitution in Nevada. So by taxing it, there's a recognition of the legality of it."
In the 1970s, Nevada allowed some counties to license brothels, in keeping with its tradition of embracing things, such as prizefighting and gambling, that others branded as sins.
But ever since the neon-signed bordellos were codified, folks have pressed to outlaw them. (In 2004, Churchill County voted for both President George W. Bush and keeping prostitution legal -- the latter by a 2-to-1 margin.)
On Tuesday, the hearing often veered into whether brothels were a legitimate enterprise. Flint said it was only the second time in 25 years that his clients had appeared before the Legislature.
"My client is a legal, respectable, licensed industry," he said, and others tried to convince the panel of the same.
Dennis Hof, owner of the BunnyRanch, said, "We're the world's oldest profession, and these are working professionals."
Deanne Salinger, who works at the BunnyRanch as "Air Force Amy," said, "If $5-a-person can raise $2 million a year, I'm all for it."
But Ken Green, who runs the Chicken Ranch, acknowledged that, despite the testimony, the brothel business wasn't quite like all the rest. He told the committee that should a prostitution tax be passed, he would prefer it show up on a credit card receipt with a more subtle name.
--
ashley.powers@latimes.com
