Prostitutes taxed on wages of sin

Prostitutes in Hong Kong are being made to pay profits tax in what are believed to be the first cases of their kind in the SAR.

Inland Revenue officials told one prostitute last week she had to pay $310,000 in tax for the $3 million profits she made working in a karaoke lounge, nightclub and one-woman brothel over the past five years.

Zi Teng - a group that fights for prostitutes' rights - said it had not heard of sex workers being asked to pay tax until several members revealed they had been approached by tax officials in the past year.

A spokeswoman for the group, Yim Yuet-lin, said: 'If one-woman brothels are liable to tax, we want to see the end of discrimination against the profession.'

Courts can currently eject women from one-woman brothels if a landlord makes an application on the basis that the flat was proven to be used for an illegal or immoral purpose, Ms Yim said. They were also harassed by frequent police checks, she said.

The President of the Taxation Institute, Thomas Lee Kang-bor, said sex workers liable for profits tax would need to keep business records, issue receipts to clients and, in some cases, make a business registration.

Mr Lee said all businesses, whether they were legal or not, would need to pay tax if they made profits, citing the example of the late drug trafficker Ng Sik-ho, or 'Limpy Ho', who was asked to pay tax on his illegal gains while he was in jail.