Plans to impose uniform taxation rules throughout Germany could mean prostitutes are charged 25 euros ($34) per working day as a prepayment on their tax bill, ministry spokesman Oliver Heyder-Rentsch said today, confirming a report in today's Bild- Zeitung, Germany's biggest selling newspaper.

“This is not about a new tax, it is about how taxes are being imposed and collected,'' Heyder-Rentsch said in a telephone interview. Prostitution was legalized in Germany in 2002, and sex workers are already registered by the tax authorities in Germany's 16 states, he said.

A forced tax prepayment for employed and self-employed sex workers may boost tax revenue at state and federal level. Around 400,000 women work as prostitutes in Germany, according to the Web site of news magazine Spiegel, citing Hydra e.V., a self- help group for prostitutes.

At the end of each year, prostitutes will be able to fill out a tax declaration form and reclaim money depending on their income, Bild reported, citing the ministry proposal.

Bloomberg, USA