Germans figure out how to tax hookers - with parking meters

Prostitution is legal in Germany, but collecting taxes from streetwalkers requires some creative efforts.

In Bonn, officials have unveiled a meter that prostitutes must pay roughly $8 into each night to get a nightly permit to practice the world's oldest profession. Freelance sex workers get an automated ticket, much like a parking slip, according to Der Spiegel. Officials say taxing prostitutes who work out of fixed locations is simple, but streetwalkers could easily avoid duties.

"It's not fair that some women who work in establishments like sex centers or sauna clubs are taxed only because we can find them more easily there," city spokeswoman Monika Frömbgen said.

It's only inevitable that they'll be collecting tax from the Johns as well, that is, if they aren't already doing so. Maybe they can rig the meters so that the Johns pay the hookers using credit cards using the meters and the tax gets taken off. They tax booze and cigarettes so why not sex.

source