Because of some many "narrow-minded" people around us. My 2 cents.

The government cant find a way to tax them.

I honestly do not know. I think its illegal because its not right to solicit a human being for sex-because #1: we're really not supposed to have sex before we are married, but it happens anyway..I guess its the same question for a similar situation: why have most states legalized same-sex marriage? And another question of: Why is abortion legal? We can have sex with the same sex KNOWING damn well that it is wrong, morally. They say its legal to kill a living baby-no matter HOW far along you may be during the pregnancy? But prostitution is illegal? It may come around one day that congress may pass a bill legalizing "prostitution".

-Sweet T is on Cloud Nine XOXO F.B.B. said exactly what I was gonna say.

Much the same reason that certain inherently harmless drugs aren't legal. Over all the years of prostitution being condemned as either ethically wrong and/or illegal, the illegitimacy of the trade has led to it being corrupted into something much, much more harmful than it is in and of itself by being forced to associate with the portions of that which is considered unethical/illegal that actually *Are* harmful. Because prostitution is illegal, a prostitute who is victimized by an abusive pimp, can't turn to the police to help defend them from this genuinely harmful crime, because the police consider them guilty of a crime themselves. Therefor, the sex trade has, over time, become more and more associated with abusive, exploitative pimps. Because prostitution is illegal, it's even more dangerous than it would be in and of itself, which, generally, tends to lead to only those who are forced, or in very desperate situations, taking it up as a profession. Therefor, the sex trade has become associated more and more with things such as drug addiction, mental illness, poverty, and slavery. Granted, certain dangerous aspects of prostitution are inherent to the trade. For example, even someone who freely chooses to be a prostitute, without a "Manager", and without being deprived of other options, is running the risk of rape, sexual diseases, and possibly pregnancy. However, contracting or even spreading a sexual disease is something that people have a personal right to do, as is risking pregnancy, and in the case of rape, the prostitutes themselves are not even the guilty party. In an ideal world, law enforcement would be totally willing and able to simply hunt down and prosecute the rapists, pimps, child-pornographers, and other scum who are actually harming people, leaving prostitutes, who harm no one but themselves and their willing clients, free to ply their trade as they chose. However, the fact that prostitution (and, up until relatively recently, fornication in general) has been forced to operate 'Underground' for so long, coupled with a smaller degree of bias against it amongst those responsible for law enforcement, makes that very difficult if not effectively impossible. Ironically enough, had prostitutes been protected and regulated, rather than persecuted and condemned, by law over the centuries, there would be very little reason for law to persecute and condemn them now.

because society believes it promotes other more severe crimes.

because it would require laws, health inspections, and medical check-ups...you do the math... 20 for your need, or pay for physical, drug and std check, and taxes, and the cost of the state's employees and resources enforcing the laws...

Its legal to be a prostitute here in New Zealand, and i thought America was the land of the free.

I think it is legal in Las Vegas. Isn't it? I know they have legal brothels anyway. The women get tested for STDs on a regular basis and their income is taxable.

Because the feminists know that women would naturally become more conservative in their roles towards men. Got a woman who wants to roar...just go pay for it.

Fact from fiction, truth from diction, the short reason as to why prostitution is not legal here in most of the US is sexual immaturity. As much as this nation wants to believe it has separated church and state this nations was founded on Judea Christian ethics. Many of the laws were sin based. Vices as they call them, prosecution, gambling, swindling, stealing, killing etc. Because of the sin factor Americans have never been at home with sex. Sex at one time was like the gold medal one received at the end of a long courtship ending in marriage. It had weight and meaning. To have sex unwed or to commit adultery was scandalous. At one point women were made to wear a scarlet letter letting all know they were unfaithful. Then somewhere around the 60s, (and I am a child of it) people wanted to break away from the stuffy tradition of the 50s and before. One of which that said to have sex correctly you had to wait on the one you were going to spend your life with. Those if the 60s did not want to commit like that for the sake of sex took on the ideal of having sex just because you want to enjoy it. Fornication and unwed mothers became more main stream. In the attempt to keep sex from becoming a total commodity selling sex was not allowed on the bus. To reduce sex to just a service or item that could be purchased would totally strip the magic from it. Even though most acts of fornication carries no love, the false romance caused by lust give the illusion of such. In short, hypocrisy and sexual immaturity.

The govenment has not figured an accurate way of taxing it yet!

U know if there was no such thing as STD's i wish it were legal.