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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Sex Tax: Street Prostitutes In Bonn Must Now Pay Meter For A Night's Work

Editor's Note: The following article comes from Worldcrunch, an innovative, new global news site that translates stories of note in foreign languages into English. This article was originally published in Suddeutsche Zeitung.

BONN – Before going on shift in the limited public space reserved for street prostitution in Bonn, the city‘s prostitutes must now purchase a “sex tax” ticket from an automatic dispenser. The six-euro ticket is valid for one night’s work, no matter the number of clients.

To get the system up and running, fiscal authorities had a machine normally used to dispense tickets for parking places converted so that the words "Steuerticket-Automat" (tax ticket automat) are now painted on it, and the display now reads: "Die Nacht 6,00 Euro" (6 euros a night). The display also states that tickets are required from Monday to Sunday, from 8:15 p.m. to 6 a.m.

In Germany, Bonn is a pioneer of this automatic up-front taxation system. Dortmund has tickets that sex workers buy in gas stations, but no automatic dispenser.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We need to see if we can get this here in Cambridge to help pay for the new sidewalks. After all they use them more than anyone else here in town.

Anonymous said...

I hope that don't come to Las Vegas, their services are already expensive, then add a tax too, wow, I'll only be able to pay for 1 a night rather than 2.