Budapest - Hungarian prostitutes can now apply for
entrepreneur permits as part of a move to boost government income,
officials from Hungary's tax authority said Monday evening.
Agnes Bakonyi, spokeswoman for the tax authority APEH, told
InfoRadio that the agency would help the prostitutes become
entrepreneurs by giving them advice on bookkeeping and legal issues.
Prostitution has already been legalized in Hungary - though only
within certain zones - but the new move is aimed at bringing sex
workers into the legal economy.
The government has promised a crackdown on Hungary's underground
economy as part of efforts to reduce its budget deficit, and
according to the tax authority major revenues can be raised from the
sex industry.
'Some 20,000 people live from prostitution in Hungary. Last year's
estimates show that around 180 billion forints (1 billion dollars)
from the sex industry went untaxed,' said Bakonyi.
Agnes Foldi, head of the Hungarian Prostitutes' Interests
Protection Association, said that some 500 women had applied for the
licensing scheme, which has an initial 110 slots, and that 20 had
been issued permits.
Foldi said that many sex workers were keen to sign up because they
knew it was in their best interests to work legally and consequently
gain access to mortgages and other services.
'They recognize the possibility,' she said, 'that they make their
lives easier with this.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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