Friday, September 02, 2011
(photo: DPA)
Feed-the-meter has a whole new meaning in the German city of Bonn, where prostitutes working the streets must plunk money into converted parking meters before going to work.
In certain areas of Bonn where sex workers can operate legally, the city has installed Siemens-built meters labeled “Steuerticket-Automat” (tax ticket automat). Prostitutes must put six Euros a night (about $8.50) into the machines in order to patrol the sidewalks and pick up customers.
City officials calculate that the sex-tax tickets will generate about 300,000 Euros a year in new revenue. Tickets must be purchased seven days a week, from 8:15 pm to 6:00 am.
Prostitutes working in brothels already were paying taxes on their income. The new system was crafted to make taxing more equitable to cover those pounding the pavement in stilettos.
In addition to providing safe zones for streetwalkers, Bonn has “Eros Centers” which consist of parking spaces separated by wood partitions that allow privacy for “johns” and their “dates.”
The city government of Bonn also spends $116,000 a year to provide security for the sex workers and their clients.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Sex Tax: Street Prostitutes in Bonn Must Now Put Money in Meter for a Night’s Work (Süddeutsche Zeitung via Worldcrunch)
In Germany, Sex Workers Feed a Meter (by Nicholas Kulish, New York Times)
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