
Audio By Carbonatix
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."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.
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
Tags:
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
Latest Stories
-
Boakye Agyarko marks Easter Sunday with a call for Godly leadership ahead of nationwide campaign tour
10 minutes -
Pepsi withdraws as UK festival sponsor after Kanye West backlash
14 minutes -
Pope Leo calls for global leaders to choose peace in his first Easter Mass
22 minutes -
Kpando MP highlights progress on road projects
35 minutes -
Government secures $92m for Engineering and Agriculture University
41 minutes -
Several Ghana-bound vegetable trucks detained in Nigeria
2 hours -
Black Sherif questions Wendy Shay’s absence in “Artiste of the Year” talks ahead of TGMA 2026
3 hours -
Government confirms arrival of 100 new buses to ease transport challenges
3 hours -
$600m tomato imports undermining Ghana’s economy — Chamber of Agribusiness
4 hours -
Rainstorm wreaks havoc: Faulty transformers, feeder failures leave parts of 3 regions without power
4 hours -
CUTS International calls for urgent competition law amid sachet water price hikes
5 hours -
‘I never did this advert’, AI clones hijack Ghanaian identities for profit
5 hours -
25-year-old woman battles trauma after surviving deadly Nkwanta attack
6 hours -
Vice President honoured at Tortsogbeza as South Tongu leaders highlight development needs
6 hours -
Kwahu Business Forum 2026: Corporate citizenship, sustaining African businesses take centre stage with KGL as the case study
7 hours