Hungarian tax office provides prostitutes with advice

Hungary's tax office now assists prostitutes wishing to become private entrepreneurs by providing them with advice on business development, tax and legal matters.

Yesterday, on September 24, APEH, the state tax office, in cooperation with the Hungarian Association of Prostitutes' Interests (Magyar Prostituáltak Érdekvédelmi Egyesülete, MÉEP), began to tour the country in a specially equipped bus. On this bus they provide the women with advice on how to write a bill or complete a tax return. Many prostitutes were interested in the counsel: the plan was for 110 people to participate, but there were 500 applicants wishing to obtain advice.

The assistance of the tax office is not entirely altruistic: its aim is to be able to collect taxes from the women's incomes. The prostitutes who used to work tax-free have to pay their taxes just like other workers from now on. According to the Central Statistics Office (KSH) Ft 180 billion goes into the black market from the sex industry a year. A Hungarian man pays on average Ft 30,000 for sex a year.

The women, too, will benefit from becoming private entrepreneurs: as tax-paying citizens they can partake in health services, they become creditable due to their regular legal income, and, as entrepreneurs, they can write-off some of their costs on their taxes. Currently, 16 women have obtained their entrepreneurial licenses.

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