The cash-strapped German capital this week dispatched inspectors into establishments such as Lust Land to drum up revenue from the city’s 7,000 sex workers. “Prostitution is a strong economic sector in the capital,” says Gerry Woop, spokesman for Berlin’s economic administration.

According to the German Institute for Economic Research, prostitution in Berlin has an annual turnover of €300 million, making the sex industry more dynamic than domestic builders, painters and decorators.

Prostitution was legalized in 2002. This allowed brothel owners to provide more hygienic conditions of work and prostitutes became eligible for pensions and health insurance.

Under the new rules, each prostitute will be required to pay €30 a day to the brothel owner as an advance payment on tax. The prostitute should have documentary proof for every day worked.

Times Online, UK