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Prostitutes Mean Business
Updated: Mon, Aug 06 9:59 AM EDT
By
Melanie Cheary
http://news.excite.com/news/r/010806/09/odd-prostitutes-dc
AMSTERDAM
(Reuters) - Nowhere is the world's oldest
profession more legal than in the
Netherlands where the
booming sex industry pays tax, but prostitutes say
they
still struggle to gain the financial acceptance they need
from Dutch
banks.
Amsterdam's Ladies of the Night consider themselves
small
business entrepreneurs -- providing a service in a sector
where
demand far exceeds supply.
They want bank accounts which show their
income is not
personal so that expenses -- like condoms and sex toys
--
can be tax-free and tax-deductible.
Dutch banks say prostitution is
too risky a business, too
associated with crime and too likely to offend
other
clients.
But the representative body for the around
20,000
prostitutes in The Netherlands says banks are sexist,
judgmental,
worried what people might think and missing
out on a good opportunity in an
industry estimated to
earn almost $1 billion annually.
SEXIST OR
SHY
The Rode Draad (Red Thread), which acts and speaks on
behalf of
prostitutes, has filed a complaint against the
Dutch bank ING Groep with the
Office of Fair Treatment, a
forum for voicing complaints about
inequality.
The case, which had its first hearing last week,
alleges
discrimination against women because ING won't allow
prostitutes
to open the kind of commercial bank accounts
to which, they say, as
legitimate workers in a legal
industry, they are entitled.
ING, the
country's biggest financial group by market
capitalization, says it does not
want its name tied in
any way to sex and that this might offend other
clients
in the 65 countries it operates, which might not be as
liberal as
the Dutch.
"We're not discriminating against women. Our policy
for
years has been that we don't want to do business with
persons from the
sex industry, the entire sex industry.
Not only prostitutes but also makers
of porn videos and
other articles," says ING spokesman Peter Jong.
"We
don't have a moral judgement on this. Our decision is
purely business. There
is too big a risk. The sex
industry is not very stable, not very transparent
and so
it is difficult to calculate the risks," he added,
raising the
point that the large amount of cash changing
hands could facilitate money
laundering.
THE BUSINESS
Prostitution was banned in the
Netherlands in the 17th
century but legalized by then-ruler the French
emperor
Napoleon in 1815.
Since 1988 it has been officially defined as
a legal
profession and prostitutes joined the service sector
union. They
have been required to pay income tax since
1996.
"We're talking about
a legal branch of the sex industry
here. It's been legal since Napoleon.
They've had a few
hundred years to research the risk," says Rode
Draad
spokeswoman Christy ten Broeke from the organization's
headquarters
near Amsterdam's thriving red light
district.
"Sex is a major industry
and booming. If a bank is clever
and wants to make money they should take our
business,"
she added, making a passing reference to the global
economic
downturn and the pressure this has put on banks'
bottom lines.
As
private clients, who don't need to disclose their
occupation, prostitutes in
The Netherlands can open
current and savings accounts like other people
with
money.
But sex workers say they face a cold shoulder when
trying
to open commercial accounts that will allow their
revenues to be
treated commercially by tax authorities
and open up small business credit
facilities needed to
rent and decorate premises from which they conduct
their
trade.
"They want to be taxed as a business and not as a
private
individual. This will entitle them to some tax deductible
items,
like condoms and other materials," Ten Broeke
says.
"It would also
make it easier for clients. Some clients
pay by credit card or check and it
would allow them some
privacy if a neutral business name was shown on
accounts
or receipts rather than the woman's name," she adds.
ATTACK
AND DEFENSE
A decision on last week's hearing is expected from
the
Office of Fair Treatment in a few weeks. The decision is
non-binding
but could guide banks' policy.
While ING is the target of the
prostitutes' complaint,
other banks have also presented problems, forcing
some
sex workers to open business bank accounts under false
company
names.
Another large Dutch bank, ABN AMRO initially rejected
an
application for a commercial account made by Ten Broeke
when she said
she was from the Rode Draad.
But shortly afterwards she received a letter
saying that
a mistake had been made and if she could produce
a
registration number from the country's commerce
authorities, such an
account could be opened.
"In general we say every businessman and woman
is welcome
and, if we see good business prospects, we see no reason
to say
no even if it is a prostitute," ABN AMRO spokesman
Jochem van de Laarschot
told Reuters.
"There is no such thing as a policy that we say "no"
to
anyone in this sector. But of course we don't say "yes"
to everyone
either. I do believe our records show that
prostitutes have commercial
accounts with us," he added.
But Van de Laarschot emphasizes that the
geographical
location from which a prostitute requests a business
account
has to be considered.
"If it is Amsterdam, sure, but if it's Veluwe, the
Dutch
Bible Belt, then this could offend some of our
other
clients."
code:ema
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