Lawyer Seeks To Deduct Cost of Prostitutes and Porn
78 year old lawyer William Halby has indicated he’ll continue to challenge rulings that he cannot deduct costs of prostitutes and pornography he is paying for each year. And you thought tax was boring!
Tax law is generally a tad dry. I’ll admit it. Every so often, however, a case comes along that grabs your attention. Sometimes it is a celebrity in hot water. Sometimes it is the porn star who is given the right to deduct her breast augmentation as a business expense. This year, the winning attention getter seems to be William Halby.
Mr. Halby is a 78 year old attorney in Brooklyn, New York. He has three children, but has been separated from his wife for eight years. The only reason they don’t divorce is the fact she’ll lose her medical coverage. Regardless, Attorney Halby finds himself depressed and a bit lonely. He has found prostitutes and porn act as a holistic medical treatment for all that ails him. Given this, he’s tried to write off the over $300,000 he’s spent on them in the last few years as a medical expense!
I’m not sure really where to begin with this one. I am not even going to touch the interesting question of a 78 year old man spending over $300,000 on prostitutes and porn. The deduction, however, is a pretty simple matter. The primary fact is you usually can’t deduct a medical expense that a doctor hasn’t endorsed. Then there is the rather obvious fact that prostitution is illegal, and something a court is not going to allow a tax deduction for. Oddly, you can be forced to pay income and sales tax on illegal items such as narcotics, but you can’t claim deductions.
Personally, I have to say I am in Mr. Halby’s corner. I hope he takes it all the way to the Supreme Court. That’s an oral argument I would love to see!