Editor’s note: This article was first published in June 2014; it reflects the news context of that month, a report proposing measures for the Spanish tax reform then being prepared, including legalising prostitution and some soft drugs.
Spain’s tax authorities admit they are falling short of their revenue target, and a recent report titled “Reforma fiscal española y agujeros negros del fraude” (Spanish tax reform and the black holes of fraud) puts forward hundreds of measures for the tax reform the Spanish government is preparing. Among them, it brings up the legalisation of prostitution and of trade in some soft drugs.
It is estimated that legalising prostitution alone could bring in around 6 billion euros, no small sum, and one that would give the state’s coffers a considerable boost.
For or against legalising prostitution?
We already debated this question back in 2011, and after learning that Spanish men are considered the biggest customers of prostitution in Europe, I think this subject needs a serious debate, setting aside the hypocrisy that often surfaces whenever someone talks about legalising the oldest profession in the world (with apologies to the host of the Spanish TV quiz show Saber y Ganar, a long-running joke for supposedly never ageing).
For many people, talking about prostitution is the same as talking about sex trafficking, one of the most profitable illegal businesses in the world, so it might seem that legalising the profession would increase the presence of criminal networks. That view may well be wrong, because countries that are more permissive and have some regulation of prostitution tend to have fewer problems with this kind of organised crime.
Some time ago I read an article by an American journalist who had travelled to a US state where prostitution was legal. He described how much better things were in that state’s clubs compared with other states, where prostitution obviously exists but is not regulated.
We should not forget that prostitution is a profession that most women choose freely, either as a way of life or as a way to earn money for a while when going through a personal financial crisis. Once sex workers pay social security contributions and have the same rights as any other worker, they will also be better protected.
This would put an end to street prostitution, and there would probably be no need for the typical pimp. That figure could be replaced by legal protection, such as a security guard employed by a private, legitimate company providing these services. Legalising prostitution could be the first step towards ending the presence of sex-trafficking networks in our country, if the authorities do it properly.
Whenever the question of legalising prostitution comes up, many people are scandalised on supposed ethical and moral grounds.
This is clearly my personal opinion, but I do not think this debate should be held within the walls of the tax office. It should be sex workers themselves who decide whether they really want to become legal workers and pay into social security. I would venture that a large share of them would prefer to regularise their situation.
As a curiosity, one of the searches that brings many readers to our blog is “how to set up a legal brothel“. Although today there are many legal loopholes and strategies that allow a brothel owner to operate legally as a business owner, the fact is that the women working there still see no benefit.
For or against legalising prostitution?
Further reading
- Prostitutes with parking-style ticket machines in Germany
- The controversy over a professional prostitution course
Featured image: Luis García, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr.
