Berlin plans to levy a flat rate daily tax on prostitutes from April to raise some extra revenues for its strained finances.
Following a model used by Cologne, which collected over $1 million (514,000 pounds) last year with its own flat tax, the German capital plans to tax prostitutes 30 euros (20 pounds) per working day. Berlin has rising debts of more than 60 billion euros.
Prostitution is legal in most places in Germany and sex workers are required to pay income tax as well as value-added tax (VAT). However, tax collectors have long suspected their income and VAT was not being fully reported on tax returns.
Local leaders in the Verdi service sector union have warned that the 30-euro tax will push up prices in Berlin, Germany's biggest metropolis with some 3.4 million inhabitants.
"The prostitutes will have no choice other than to pass the cost on to the customers,", Verdi spokesman Andreas Sander was quoted as saying in German daily newspaper Bild.
Katharina Cetin, of the prostitute support organisation Hydra, said sex workers earn less than city leaders estimate.
"The income level here in Berlin is rather low," she said. "A daily tax rate of 10 to 15 euros would be more appropriate."
Cologne, home to roughly 1 million, has been a worldwide pioneer in taxing prostitution at a flat rate of 150 euros per month. It earned 828,000 euros in 2006 after 790,000 euros when the "pleasure tax" on sex services was first levied in 2005.
20070107
Man pays library $171, 47-year late fee
Robert Nuranen handed the local librarian a book he'd checked out for a ninth-grade assignment — along with a check for 47 years' worth of late fees.
Nuranen said his mother misplaced the copy of "Prince of Egypt" while cleaning the house. The family came across it every so often, only to set it aside again. He found it last week while looking through a box in the attic.
"I figured I'd better get it in before we waited another 10 years," he said after turning it in Friday with the $171.32 check. "Fifty-seven years would be embarrassing."
The book, with its last due date stamped June 2, 1960, was part of the young Nuranen's fascination with Egypt. He went on to visit that country and 54 others, and all 50 states, he said, but he never did finish the book.
Nuranen now lives in Los Angeles, where he teaches seventh-grade social studies and language arts.
The library had long ago lost any record of the book, librarian Sue Zubiena said.
"I'm going to use it as an example," she said. "It's never too late to return your books".
Nuranen said his mother misplaced the copy of "Prince of Egypt" while cleaning the house. The family came across it every so often, only to set it aside again. He found it last week while looking through a box in the attic.
"I figured I'd better get it in before we waited another 10 years," he said after turning it in Friday with the $171.32 check. "Fifty-seven years would be embarrassing."
The book, with its last due date stamped June 2, 1960, was part of the young Nuranen's fascination with Egypt. He went on to visit that country and 54 others, and all 50 states, he said, but he never did finish the book.
Nuranen now lives in Los Angeles, where he teaches seventh-grade social studies and language arts.
The library had long ago lost any record of the book, librarian Sue Zubiena said.
"I'm going to use it as an example," she said. "It's never too late to return your books".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)