Taxing sex in Germany
2003-05-15 21:37
Germany - Burdened by debt, authorities in the western German city of Cologne are thinking of introducing a sex tax.
It wouldn't affect everyone who indulges, only brothels and sex shows, city treasurer Peter Michael Soenius said Thursday.
He said it was problematic from a point of view of equality that commercial sex was not subject to an extra tax in the same way as, say, slot machines.
"Some people get their pleasure throwing money into games machines, others get it in other ways," he said.
Germany's economy is in a mess, beset by high unemployment and low growth and official figures on Thursday showed that it has entered a recession.
Other figures released on Thursday showed lower-than-expected tax revenues for this year of €8.7bn which will hit city and regional authorities as well as the federal government.
Brothels are legal in Germany and supposedly subject to the normal tax and employment laws.
- SAPA