Meter Maid

Know what this is?

Oliver Berg/AFP/Getty Images

Nope, not a condom or postage stamp dispenser.

If you guessed a meter to tax prostitutes, you're right!

Yes, leave it to the Germans to capitalize on the oldest profession. In the German city of Bonn . . .

FYI - Bonn is here

(an hour and a half from me - we live just above that "I" in Belgium)

. . . Bonn has installed a meter to tax prostitutes - six euros per night. And don't even think of not paying it. You could be fined or worse, be banned from prostitution altogether, according to an article by Glen Levy. In addition to the new meter, the city has also built parking garages for the clients' convenience. The prostitutes' rights activists say it's essentially double taxation as the prostitutes already pay income taxes.

But Bonn is having none of it. They expect to get about 200,000 euros off this new tax each year. By the end of opening weekend with the new meter, the city had collected $382.

Taxing prostitution isn't new to Germany - just the meter is new. Leave it to the Germans . . .