Sex tax in Bonn: Meters for hookers

Sex tax in Bonn: Meters for hookers

Prostitutes in the German city of Bonn must now pay a nightly tax to automated ticket machines.

City officials instituted a new "sex tax" for prostitution this year. They hoped to raise up to 200,000 (RM856,137) per year in additional revenues.

Since Monday, freelance sex workers on the city streets have been required to pay 6 (RM25.67) per night into the machine, which resembles an automated parking ticket machine.

This machine, however, prints out nightly permits to practice prostitution.

Sex tax...The automated ticket machine for street prostitutes

Because many sex workers come from abroad and speak little German, enforcement of the tax had proved problematic, city spokeswoman Monika Frmbgen told German news agency DPA.

They struggle to fill out the appropriate tax paperwork, making the ticket machine little more than a simple solution.

"It's not fair that some women who work in establishments like sex centers or sauna clubs are taxed only because we can find them more easily there," Frmbgen said.

The new requirement will be enforced by tax officers, who plan to issue warnings to first-time sex-tax dodgers, followed by fines and ultimately a ban on working in the area, she added.

The ticket issued by the machine authorises work between the hours of 8:15 pm and 6 am, and is the first of its kind in the country, according to officials.

Sex workers on the city streets have been required to pay 6 per night into the automated ticket machine

Dortmund, located 120 km north of Bonn, used to require a similar day ticket for tax purposes that were purchased at gas stations, but streetwalking has since been banned there.

The concept "will certainly interest o! ther cit ies," Uwe Zimmerman, a spokesman for the German association of cities and municipalities, told news agency DAPD.

Though prostitution has been legal in Germany since 2002, streetwalking is frowned upon and complaints from residents have prompted Bonn city officials to set up a special area to contain the sex business.

On the outskirts of the city near the municipal waste management facilities, special wooden garages have been erected for johns to park their cars privately and legally.

The area also features a guard who prostitutes can call upon in case of an emergency. But now those who want to use this area and must first pay the machines.

Sex worker association BUFAS rejected the concept, calling the flat fee unfair.

"We are against such special rules, and favour the legal equality of every worker, including in matters of taxes," said Beate Leopold, who works at a BUFAS associated advocacy organisation in Nuremberg called Kassandra.

"Income tax should be levied on a case-by-case basis," she added.
Source: spiegel.de

Published Sept 1 2011