Huh. Legalize what’s going on anyway, eliminate the cost of arrests, prosecution and jail for something you aren’t going to stop, and collect taxes on it. Why didn’t we think of that?
The city of Bonn has begun collecting taxes from prostitutes with an automated pay station similar to a parking meter, proving again that German efficiency knows few if any bounds.
Bonn is not the only city in Germany to charge such a tax, but it is the first to hit upon the idea of a ticket machine that prints out receipts for the nightly flat fee of 6 euros (currently about $8.65) for the privilege of streetwalking. The meter went into service over the weekend, and by Monday morning had collected $382 for the city’s coffers.
[…]
The women wait for customers on a stretch of the Immenburgstrasse in a largely industrial part of the city. In addition to the Siemens-built meter machine, which cost $11,575 including installation, the city has built special wooden garages nearby where customers can park their cars and have sex.“They are called, in fairest and finest administrative High German, ‘performance areas,’ but I believe the Italian prime minister would say ‘bunga bunga,’ ” said Monika Frömbgen, a spokeswoman for the city. Still, she said, the serious issue that the meter was intended to address boils down to tax fairness.
“The women in the bordellos and the sauna clubs also pay the tax, and so should those working on the streets,” Ms. Frömbgen said.
Cheaper that parking!
is the tax rate different by act? idle prying minds wanna know.
If you ever got the chance to visit “The Crazy Sexy” in Franfurt in the 70’s you’d know the Germans have a thing about prostitution and parking. Amusing that.
Civilization? What do people want other than riding purple unicorns?
Reality—-what a concept.
From TFA: The Bonn government spends $116,000 a year for a private security company to guard the area and to provide security for the sex workers. and After one warning, a sex worker caught working without a ticket would be fined up to $145
That sounds a awful lot like a protection racket … (with benefits? 🙂
Brilliant! Drive through sex! This can get big (no pun intended)
So called “Victimless Crimes” also CORRUPT THE ENTIRE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM !!!
The Church is not longer the State, so the Civil Government should not be enforcing regulations against “sin” or “vice” !!!
So you think prostitution laws haven’t reduced prostitution in any way?
I don’t think we’ll eliminate all murders. Let’s just put a tax on it.
MikeN “So you think prostitution laws haven’t reduced prostitution in any way?”
Most likely so, but why would you want to?
Cities need prostitutes for the same reason they need sewers.
Leave to the Germans to make a buck while exploiting people.
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So everything that’s fun in Germany, is now taxed. Figures. Do they tax getting drunk, too?
The problem with governments taxing vices, is this. Should said vices threaten to go out of favor. Said gov. feels the fiduciary need to defend from failure. Like how US cities hosting Horse Racing, keep pouring money into promoting a dying vice, they depend on for tax revenue. Or supplement Racing’s faltering revenue, with the addition of Slot Machines at tracks. What will Germany do, in ensure or increase its revenue from prostitution?
By offering breast implants free through the nationalized healthcare system.
The Germans are the quintessntial buzzkill.
My favourite part of that article was the line “proving again that German efficiency knows few if any bounds.” Just to make the whole thing a little creepier…
lol, the ticket machine is made by Siemens…
Initially I thought the story was about a large breasted woman with no torso…
Her name is actually Greta von Holstein.