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| Down Under |
| ATO may back sex trade awards |
| 2004-09-17 |
| THE Australian Taxation Office is considering joining condom manufacturers and brothels in sponsoring the sex industry's awards night as part of a campaign to encourage strippers and prostitutes to declare their income and pay GST. Tax officials have been talking with organisers of the Australian Adult Industry Awards in an effort to promote tax compliance by the nation's 16,000 sex workers. The fourth annual awards night - with categories including best brothel, best brothel receptionist and best stripper (male and female) - will be held at Melbourne's Hyatt Hotel in November. Nominees for the Hall of Fame include someone called "Dirty Pierre". An ATO spokesman confirmed that tax office involvement in the awards was "under consideration". Adult industry organiser Maxine Fensom, who runs Melbourne's biggest stripper agency, has held talks with the ATO for at least a month, and hopes the government agency will agree to be a naming rights sponsor of the event. The ATO's cash economy taskforce, a team of tax investigators based in Wollongong, south of Sydney, initially met Ms Fensom to discuss ways sex workers and strippers could improve compliance with their GST obligations. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #2 Well, good for the government's business, anyway. But I do agree with Anonymoose's comment about the adult industry. Anecdote: I used to prepare taxes for a living. The place I worked had a pair of call girls as clients. They filed their taxes regularly and on time. (Note that the IRS does not care if income is "illegal" as long as taxes are paid] They made good money, they worked as 'party girls' on yachts. I was almost tempted... |
| Posted by: Kathy K 2004-09-17 9:18:08 PM |
| #1 Usually the adult industry is very compliant with whatever regulations they work under--it's the governments that try to change the rules mid-game. The industry even lobbies to get legislation passed to establish ground rules where none exist. So I imagine that compliance will skyrocket with just a seminar or two explaining responsibilities--it's just good for business. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2004-09-17 1:59:07 PM |