The president’s controversial tax and spending policies were passed on July 4, 2025, with the slashing of taxes on tips being designed to incentivize people to earn more tips at work.
However, the new law included a caveat. Pornographic creators and actors, including OnlyFans influencers, were not entitled to have taxes waived on their work.
Defining what pornography actually is has often proven difficult for lawmakers, meaning that it usually has to be judged on a case-by-case basis. When the First Amendment is used to defend pornography in court, lawmakers have to view the material in question to make a judgment.
That means taxpayers who report tips from OnlyFans will likely need to have their content viewed by an IRS agent. (snip)
Professions that do enjoy tax exemptions on their tips include bartenders, waiters, non-radio DJs, maids, plumbers, tattoo artists, gold caddies, and several dozen more.
Reminder that the entire Hunter Biden investigation was predicated on sex workers investigation.
— emptywheel (@emptywheel.bsky.social) December 8, 2025 at 6:17 AM
Now Gary Shapley, who championed that investigation by badly misrepresenting it, is in a senior IRS position.
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He supervised the agency's investigation into Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden. Shapley publicly alleged that the Department of Justice had "slow-walked" the investigation into the younger Biden in an interview with CBS News in May 2023. Michael Batdorf, the director of field operations at the Internal Revenue Service, claimed that he decided to remove Shapley and his team from the Biden case in December 2022. Batdorf cited an apparent statement from David C. Weiss, who oversaw the Biden investigation at the Department of Justice, claiming that Shapley could not "remain objective in the investigation"; notes from Shapley released by Politico in September revealed that he had concerns over Weiss beginning in October 2022.