Topic: Tax the hoes!

[Xessive]

Cologne fills tax gap with levy on prostitutes.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Cologne will earn a record 828,000 euros (555,000 pounds) in "sex tax" revenues this year, a figure well above expectations when the levy was first introduced by Germany's fourth largest city in 2004.

Man, even hookers will have to pay taxes on their "profession!" I'm just picturing a scene where a hooker now has to file her taxes with her pimp, and pretty soon pimps will have to provide benefits and a dental plan.

What's next? Drug dealers will be expected to pay taxes on their "income" too??

[Ace_O_Spades]

Uhh, prostitution is legal in Germany

and yes, if drugs were legal and taxed, then drug dealers (read: legitimate business dealers) would pay taxes on that too

I could write you an essay on how prostitution should be legalized, but quite frankly I'm too jaded to try to explain why our laws create a situation where prostitutes are placed in such dangerous circumstances that the murder rate is second only to taxi drivers, and higher than police officers in Canada.

Yeah yeah, "Then they shouldn't prostitute!"... tell that to a woman who has basically no social support systems because she's stigmatized for working a profession she has been working in since she was 16 because she ran away from home due to abuse/incest/rape or because she was put in a position where she had little to no other viable options. Holy run-on sentence Batman...

blarg, not worth the effort to type... nobody cares that women die because we impose our own set of social morality on people.

[Ace_O_Spades]

Also, I feel the need to add that prostitution is not a monolithic entity... it ranges from sexual slavery (bad) to high class escort work... Not all prostitutes have pimps, just like not all prostitutes work the street, or work in brothels...

Our laws only target the most vulnerable cross-section of prostitutes however, and leave the majority of it alone... hell, Vancouver even licenses known prostitution locations. Vancouver's city council is guilty of living off the avails of prostitution... nobody cares about THAT though...

[Xessive]

Yeah I get what you mean. There are a lot of venues and varieties in prostitution. I think George Carlin said it best with "Selling is legal! Fucking is legal! Why isn't selling fucking legal?!"

Makes me think of the fact that "fucking" is technically illegal back home If the police actually catch you in the act with someone you're not technically married to, you could be arrested for adultery. Of course, it happens anyway, and considering the politics some hidden brothels are even endorsed by the police (and gov't) to enrich tourism. But if it's just your bad day, and the cop is a real mean asshole, you'd get arrested for simply indulging yourself in the pleasures of the flesh with someone you're not married to.

To a certain extent I agree with it. I believe sex should be reserved for marriage. I've had my fair share of sins, but that's why I acknowledge that it's best for married couples.

[Ace_O_Spades]

The interesting thing is that one of my professors did a study of clients of prostitutes in Vancouver, and found that ~50% of them are married, and that most of them felt it made their marriage stronger, not weaker... because they got the emotional fulfillment from the marriage, and the sexual fulfillment from the prostitutes. Fucked up dynamic yeah, but interesting nonetheless

[Xessive]

Hehe that is a very intriguing statistic! I wonder why it would be the case. I mean couldn't they just do the wild things with their wives? Are their wives stingy old bats? Do they not put out?

I'm pretty conservative about myself, so I wouldn't open up or expose myself to anyone unless I'm emotionally comfortable with her. I've realized I can't fully enjoy sex unless it's with someone I have some kind of emotional link to. It makes all the better. Of course sometimes you need to bust a nut, but the consequences are often too risky to just do it with any random person (whether it's developing an emotional link, creating a new life, or catching something you don't want). The physical is easy enough, it comes naturally. But the "Why" of it all is what concerns me the most. I don't do it just because I can; I have to assess it before I make any moves. To me, it makes the most sense to invest myself emotionally and sexually in someone I love and trust. When I do get married I plan on maintaining a healthy sex life with my wife. Sex is an important part of marriage after all. I'm sure those of you who are married have a wealth of wisdom to share

Anyway, back to the main topic.. The idea of taxing a prostitute just doesn't sit right with me.. I'll have to learn more about the subject before I make any judgements on it, but right off the bat there's something weird about it. Come to think of it, paying taxes at all is a weird concept to me anyway!

[Quemaqua]

Don't even get me started.

[Xessive]

Don't even get me started.

Haha Your opinion matters Que

[Quemaqua]

No it doesn't.  I'm an outmoded conservo-Puritanical misanthrope, remember?

[Xessive]

No it doesn't.  I'm an outmoded conservo-Puritanical misanthrope, remember?

Nobody's perfect

I still feel like I was born way too late.. At least 40 years too late! Although 1000 B.C. seems like it may have been a nice era.

[Ace_O_Spades]

No it doesn't.  I'm an outmoded conservo-Puritanical misanthrope, remember?

sigh

[Quemaqua]

Sorry.  I shouldn't bitch so much around you guys.  You're all pretty good at respecting the opinions of others and such.  It's just the shit I'm bombarded with every day at work and stuff.  It really grates on me to a point where I just want to scream.  It's been like that a lot lately.

[Pugnate]

The interesting thing is that one of my professors did a study of clients of prostitutes in Vancouver, and found that ~50% of them are married, and that most of them felt it made their marriage stronger, not weaker... because they got the emotional fulfillment from the marriage, and the sexual fulfillment from the prostitutes. Fucked up dynamic yeah, but interesting nonetheless

I bet the people surveyed were the ones using the prostitutes and not the unsuspecting partners.

[ren]

Sorry.  I shouldn't bitch so much around you guys.  You're all pretty good at respecting the opinions of others and such.  It's just the shit I'm bombarded with every day at work and stuff.  It really grates on me to a point where I just want to scream.  It's been like that a lot lately.

misanthrope really does describe you. You should just quit your job, move out of california to somewhere with a lower cost of living, and start over. If it's taking that much out of you, is it really worth it?

I'm with you Kams. I've always wondered why it was illegal.

[Ace_O_Spades]

I bet the people surveyed were the ones using the prostitutes and not the unsuspecting partners.

Hahaha most definitely they were. I've always been of the mind that if you need to go to a prostitute for something you can't get in your own relationship, then you should probably find a new relationship... this stems from my hatred of cheating though, and not from my hatred of prostitution.

[Pugnate]

Yea I agree Kams.

[Quemaqua]

I would agree with that, though I still don't think prostitution is in any way right.

And ren, I could do that, but at this point in my life I can't even conceive of how.  Not to mention I've never lived anywhere other than here, and this is where all my family is, and my wife's family too.  That and I have no education to speak of, so moving away from the job I hate (which in reality I'm damned lucky to have) isn't really an option.  Even if I move somewhere cheaper, I'm not really qualified to make anywhere near what I make now, so it probably wouldn't work.  I'm more or less stuck.  If Julia and I don't win this disability case, we're also pretty well fucked.

[Antares]

If you live someplace cheaper you wouldn't have to make as much as you do now...

[Quemaqua]

Yes, but I'm talking about in ratio.  The ratio of money spent to money earned would probably go out of my favor even if I went somewhere cheaper to live.

[Ace_O_Spades]

Yes, but I'm talking about in ratio.  The ratio of money spent to money earned would probably go out of my favor even if I went somewhere cheaper to live.

time to become a super villain... crime pays!

[Pugnate]

Why do you hate your job so much? Because of your idiotic coworkers? What are your work hours?

[ren]

You could probably make enough to support 2 people with no education. You just wouldn't be living the most luxurious life style. but who needs extra money and possessions, right?

[Pugnate]

Exactly...  But I think the issue is that his wife is on disability and I am sure her medicine is costly? Still I think he was extremely unhappy with his work life before marriage.

[Quemaqua]

Well, my insurance covers all her stuff.  That's the other reason I can't just leave.  We really need good medical coverage, which we have now but might not if I started working somewhere else.  And she isn't on disability yet... we're in the middle of an appeals hearing on that.

[Ghandi]

Sorry.  I shouldn't bitch so much around you guys.  You're all pretty good at respecting the opinions of others and such.  It's just the shit I'm bombarded with every day at work and stuff.  It really grates on me to a point where I just want to scream.  It's been like that a lot lately.

Screaming is therapeutic. Well, to a point. I probably need to do more of it.

[Cobra951]

Medical coverage is key, and one of the crimes this country allows its citizens to suffer every day.  We each have to pay our way in a privately-held system of healthcare run by greedy fuckers.  Healthcare is too crucial a social need to allow for it to be about money.  But there it is.  I have no health insurance currently.  It's been this way for almost 2 years.  I'd have to pay something like $700 a month, and that just ain't happening.  I pay $320 a month for my 2 children to be on state-subsidized insurance.  Thank God for liberal New York.  This plan covers absolutely everything, but as you can see, it's still far from free.

The healthcare reality makes having a "real" job a necessity for most of us here in the so-called great society.

You know what?  I'm all for letting the hoes do their thing, and taxing them on income, plus levying a sin tax against them.  With that money, we can protect them from disease and from pimps.