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Germany

Sex Tax: Street Prostitutes In Bonn Must Now Put Money In Meter For A Night’s Work

Already locally regulated, Bonn’s street walkers will now be taxed on a per-night basis. Well-organized as ever, the German city has built a handy automatic dispenser where prostitutes can purchase a 6-euro ticket per night.

Prostitutes in Bonn will have to lean on another kind of meter (Paul!!!)
Prostitutes in Bonn will have to lean on another kind of meter (Paul!!!)

Worldcrunch NEWSBITES

BONN - Before going on shift in the limited public space reserved for street prostitution in Bonn, the city‘s prostitutes must now purchase a "sex tax" ticket from an automatic dispenser. The six-euro ticket is valid for one night's work, no matter the number of clients.

To get the system up and running, fiscal authorities had a machine normally used to dispense tickets for parking places converted so that the words "Steuerticket-Automat" (tax ticket automat) are now painted on it, and the display now reads: "Die Nacht 6,00 Euro" (6 euros a night). The display also states that tickets are required from Monday to Sunday, from 8:15 p.m. to 6 a.m.

In Germany, Bonn is a pioneer of this automatic up-front taxation system. Dortmund has tickets that sex workers buy in gas stations, but no automatic dispenser.

The system is meant to make taxing of prostitution more equitable, since those working inside "Eros centers' and sauna clubs were paying taxes. The sex tax itself was introduced at the beginning of 2011, and is expected to generate some 300,000 euros. City tax controllers are responsible for monitoring the ticket system; anyone caught without a ticket will first receive a warning followed by more severe measures if caught a second time.

Street prostitution in Bonn is limited to a space opposite an "Eros Center." After a sex worker agrees to go with a drive-by customer, the client drives his car into one of the six "sex boxes' -- parking spaces separated by wood partitions -- which are equipped with an emergency button to alert the night watchman in case of trouble. The new "meters' are located nearby.

Read the full story in German

Photo -Paul!!!

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Society

Why Poland's Draconian Anti-Abortion Laws May Get Even Crueler

Poland has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe. Several parties vying in national elections on Oct. 15 are competing for conservative Catholic voters by promising new laws that could put women's lives at risk.

Photograph of a woman with her lower face covered holding a red lightning bolt - the symbol of the Women's Strike - during the demonstration outside Kaczynski's house.

November 28, 2022, Warsaw, Poland: A protester holds a red lightning bolt - the symbol of the Women's Strike - during the demonstration outside Kaczynski's house.

Attila Husejnow/ZUMA
Katarzyna Skiba

-Analysis-

In 2020, Poland was rocked by mass protests when the country’s Constitutional Tribunal declared abortions in the case of severe fetal illness or deformity illegal. This was one of only three exceptions to Poland’s ban on abortions, which now only applies in cases of sexual assault or when the life of the mother is at risk.

Since the 2020 ruling, several women have filed complaints to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) after giving birth to children with severe fetal abnormalities, many of whom do not survive long after birth. One woman working at John Paul II hospital in the Southern Polish town of Nowy Targ told Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza that a patient was forced to give birth to a child suffering from acrania a lethal disorder where infants are born without a skull.

However, even in cases where abortion is technically legal, hospitals and medical professionals in Poland still often refuse to perform the procedure, citing moral objections.

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