荷蘭將對紅燈區妓女徵稅
The taxman is homing in on Amsterdam's thriving sex industry, warning the city's prostitutes it is time they paid their share.
The country legalised the practice a decade ago, but it is only now getting around to looking at the sex workers who advertise themselves in shop windows in Amsterdam's red-light district.
'We began at the larger places, the brothels, so now we're moving on to the window landlords and the ladies,' said a spokeswoman for the country's tax service.
The move is meeting little opposition, even among prostitutes - though some are skeptical it can be enforced.
Prostitution has flourished in the city since the 1600s, when the country was a major naval power and sailors arrived at the port looking for a good time.
Prostitutes were told they would be audited in typically bureaucratic fashion, with a notice addressed to: ' landlords and window prostitutes in Amsterdam' published last week in the city's main newspaper.
Although the Dutch state is not going to make a fortune just by squeezing the vice girls, the sex trade is a serious industry that went almost entirely untaxed.
The Central Bureau of Statistics estimates prostitution generates £550 million a year. Under Dutch law, girls should be charging 19 per cent sales tax on each transaction.
Profits are personal income, taxed at anywhere from 33 per cent for someone making less than £15,000 a year to 52 per cent for people making more than £45,000.
A study in October estimated there are slightly fewer than 8,000 prostitutes and 3,000 working behind windows.
荷蘭稅務部門表示，將對阿姆斯特丹繁榮的性服務業徵稅，並提醒該市的性工作者到了交稅的時候了。
荷蘭性服務業在10年前合法化，但直到最近才考慮對阿姆斯特丹紅燈區的“櫥窗女郎”徵稅。
荷蘭稅務部門的一位女發言人說：“我們先從妓院這些較大的營業場所開徵，現在要向櫥窗店主和站街女郎們推進了。”
這項徵稅措施並未遇到太多反對，甚至一些性工作者也表示贊同，但一些人質疑這一計劃的可行性。
自17世紀開始，性服務業就在阿姆斯特丹興盛起來，當時荷蘭是一個海軍強國，海員抵岸後常去尋歡作樂。
性工作者被告知她們將被進行“官僚式”審計。上週，阿姆斯特丹的主要報紙刊登了一則“致房東和櫥窗女郎的通知”。
儘管荷蘭並非要通過壓榨櫥窗女郎來增收，但性服務業作爲一種正當行業卻幾乎免稅卻是不爭的事實。
荷蘭中央統計局估計，性服務業年營業額高達5.5億英鎊。按照荷蘭法律，性服務者每完成一筆“交易”，應繳納19%的營業稅。
此外，性工作者還需按收入高低繳納個人所得稅。年收入低於1.5萬英鎊的性工作者繳納比例爲33%，而高於4.5萬英鎊的性工作者繳納比例爲52%。
去年十月的一項調查估計，荷蘭目前有剛不到8千名性工作者，其中有3千名是櫥窗女郎。
Vocabulary:
home in on: move toward or focus on a goal（把思想、注意力集中於）
get around to: do something despite obstacles such as lack of time（抽出時間來做或考慮）
