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Opinions of Wednesday, 6 October 2021

Columnist: Doctor Kwadwo Ye-large

With all due respect, sex workers must pay tax

A picture of some sex workers A picture of some sex workers

One of the internally generated funds by the central government is through taxation.

Taxes are placed on goods and services, that's why we have indirect tax on goods and direct tax on services.

If sex workers don't pay tax on the services they render to people for income, then they are cheating other service providers that pay taxes.

Income tax is charges paid on incomes generated by workers to the government.

Sex workers have been spared from tax payment for far too long. Looking at the number of people who are sex workers in the country who don't pay taxes is quite overwhelming and it is making the government lose huge revenue mobilization.

The government has a social contract with the citizens to fix the mess and menace in the country. If a section of workers are not paying taxes, where will the government generate money to fix the country?

Some are of the view that, sex workers profession is not legal. It is not legal which means, it is against the governing laws of the state. If so they must be arrested for operating illegally.

The government must ban sex workers if they are providing illegal services to their clients.

If not so and their profession is not against the law, then they need to pay tax.

There are a lot of hotels sex workers go for business, and also there are various lanes in some communities most have settled permanently for the sex trade.

For the internal revenue officers to trace them to collect their taxes is easy to execute.

Their location is not cumbersome to identify, they have landmark routes.

I will suggest to the internal revenue officers that anytime they will be going to collect taxes from workers in towns and cities, they should pass by where the sex workers have camped and collect their taxes.

They sometimes increase their sex service charges based on economic conditions when fuel prices and commodities prices are being increased.

The working load on the government to develop the country's infrastructural projects to improve the standard of living of people can be done properly if workers are faithful in their taxes payment.

Sometimes, it is not the government who is incompetent to deliver but money to fund developmental projects might not be available.

We also have slay queens who are into hookups business, this is more of executive, they are called on appointment basis to discharge their services and earn income when duty calls.

The internal revenue officers must investigate to locate where they are and go for their taxes.

Sex workers are among those who are refusing to pay taxes as responsible citizens.

I will take this opportunity to tell workers who are not paying their taxes, to understand that if workers deliberately refuse to pay taxes, the central government can't have enough money to fund developmental projects in the country.

It's not every time government must go for loans and grants to fund infrastructural developmental projects.