News

German prostitutes paying taxes via self-service machines

September 1, 2011

The world's oldest profession is going high-tech in Germany. According to The Telegraph, prostitutes on the streets of Bonn must feed £5. ($8.70 U.S.) into a kiosk each night they work, despite the number of clients they service.

The machines tell users the times of day when a ticket is necessary, which is between 8:15 p.m. and 6 a.m. each night. Prostitutes who are caught by police, working without a ticket, could be fined or banned from working.

From the story:

"This is an act of tax fairness," said Monika Frombgen, a spokeswoman for Bonn city council. "Prostitutes in fixed establishments such as brothels and sauna clubs already pay tax."

It has also been hard in the past to collect taxes from foreign-born sex workers, so the kiosks should be an easy-to-understand system of taxation.