Today’s world economic crunch may be considered “desperate times” so it’s not surprising why some countries are opting for “desperate” albeit practical measures to ease the battle against public debt.
One city in Germany, Bonn, has installed automated pay stations on the streets so that streetwalkers, particularly sex workers, can pay and print out a receipt for 6 euros ($8.70) each night as a means of paying taxes. These receipts can also be shown as proof to the police in case they’re inspected by the police. Nadia Bilchik, a CNN editorial producer , explains, “What the government in Bonn was finding was that it was hard for sex workers who solicit sex on the street to fill out tax returns for many reasons: A) they were probably really busy, but also some of them don’t speak the language.”
Built by Siemens, the $12,000 “sex-meter” or converted parking meter is expected to get some 200,000 euros ($288,000) per year from the meter.
Source: CNN