German gov treating prostitute like a car

[singveld]

Have you been to Europe, you park the car on the street, and you walk up to a meter and pay with coins, a ticket come out and you place it inside the car, so you will not get a fine.

Well, guess what the german just did?

German city of Bonn taxes prostitutes with meter
Bonn's prostitution meter, 31 August The prostitution meter is said to be the first of its kind

The German city of Bonn has installed a meter to tax prostitutes for soliciting on its streets at a rate of six euros (£5.30; $8.70) per night.

Those who fail to pay face fines or even a ban, and 264 euros were found in the meter when it was first emptied, according to AFP news agency.

Tax has been levied on prostitutes elsewhere but Bonn is the first city to use a meter, a spokeswoman said.

But a prostitutes' rights activist said the scheme amounted to double taxation.

Prostitutes are expected to pay the flat rate, regardless of earnings.

The machine, which looks like an ordinary parking meter, has been installed in an industrial area near the city centre which favoured by prostitutes and their clients.
'Consummation areas'

Isabelle Klotz, a spokeswoman for the city, said they expected to get about 200,000 euros per year from the meter.
A "consummation area" in Bonn, 29 August The "consummation areas" are wooden cubicles designed to screen cars

"Women who work in brothels also pay the tax but until now it had been difficult to get women on the street to pay," she added.

"Thanks to this new method we will be able to tax them in all fairness with the others."

There are believed to be about 200 prostitutes in Bonn.

Juanita Rosina Henning, from the Dona Carmen prostitute support group, demanded the meter's removal, saying prostitutes already paid income tax.

"This has nothing to do with fiscal equality," she said.

City officials have restricted the prostitutes' areas of operation to specific quarters but critics say this has made it easier for prostitutes to ply their trade, Reuters news agency reports.

Bonn has also erected "consummation areas", or wooden garages clients may use to visit prostitutes.

 

[singveld]

[video=youtube;XPjbSr6yos8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPjbSr6yos8[/video]

 

[singveld]

[video=youtube;UkiC4maEoeQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkiC4maEoeQ[/video]

 

[singveld]

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.



The system is meant to make taxing of prostitution more equitable, since those working inside “Eros centers“ and sauna clubs were paying taxes. The sex tax itself was introduced at the beginning of 2011, and is expected to generate some 300,000 euros. City tax controllers are responsible for monitoring the ticket system; anyone caught without a ticket will first receive a warning followed by more severe measures if caught a second time.

Street prostitution in Bonn is limited to a space opposite an “Eros Center.” After a sex worker agrees to go with a drive-by customer, the client drives his car into one of the six “sex boxes” - parking spaces separated by wood partitions - which are equipped with an emergency button to alert the night watchman in case of trouble. The new “meters” are located nearby.