$15000 per employee tax on incalls

[afterhours]

You reap what you sow. All those that pushed for this biz to be recognized and 'legitimized' will get their just desserts.

+100

 

[MattRoxx]

Soon enough, the city of Toronto will actually be promoting prostitute training and recruiting programs... simply because they are cashing in HUGE on SP taxes. I see the proposed 15K tax as a punishment for being in the trade, quite frankly.

I'm just glad I'll be retired within a year before any legal literature actually becomes official and enforced.

Less than an year?! Oh no!

It's actually worse than punishment. The irony of a $15000 "licensing fee" is that it would guarantee the 'slave trade' or indentured servitude that police and gov't officials claim to be against. Because the way it would play out is that a pimp, er brothel owner would put up the money, and the SP would have to work her ass off (or whatever) to pay him back. Plus interest, expenses etc. Basically, she'd never be able to pay it off and always owe him.

But another stupid thing Mammoliti recently said is that a casino would create work for 10,000 single mothers. Now, put his two brainfarts together and since casinos are also a sort of 'sin' activity, and they have really deep pockets, if each of these casino workers had to pay a similar $15,000 licensing fee, that would net the city $150,000,000 - every year!

 

[Perry Mason]

What is all the fuss about? Just because some - ahem - ignorant city councilor has a wet dream taxation fantasy means nothing.

The likelihood of such a scheme surviving a legal challenge is very, very slim.

Municipalities have the power to regulate a trade but not the right to prohibit, control or tax it out of existence.

To pass the legal test for a $15,000 license fee, the city would have to show that this is the approximate and fair cost of enforcing the rules and policing the trade.

And if it is, then why should any one complain?

Perry

 

[Anynym]

Now, who saw the idea coming from a mile away of City Hall limiting brothels through limits on licensing? We can go back to that thread and repeat all the good ideas everyone had from there, here, to save time.

 

[Aardvark154]

My hairdresser and I sat down once and compared numbers. He is also a independent who works from home. Our yearly income is comparable; our overhead is as well. Why should I pay an extra $15 000 after I pay my income tax when other service providers don't? That is ludicrous and will simply keep women from conforming. I will gladly pay for a license, respect zoning restrictions and continue to pay my income tax (which I bury nothing). Penalizing us further will backfire. This simply shows the ignorance at hand with those that hold the power...

cat

Well put!

 

[Aardvark154]

What is all the fuss about? Just because some - ahem - ignorant city councilor has a wet dream taxation fantasy means nothing.

The likelihood of such a scheme surviving a legal challenge is very, very slim.

Municipalities have the power to regulate a trade but not the right to prohibit, control or tax it out of existence.

To pass the legal test for a $15,000 license fee, the city would have to show that this is the approximate and fair cost of enforcing the rules and policing the trade.

And if it is, then why should any one complain?

Perry

Perry is also dead bang.

 

[GPIDEAL]

Less than an year?! Oh no!

Because the way it would play out is that a pimp, er brothel owner would put up the money, and the SP would have to work her ass off (or whatever) to pay him back. Plus interest, expenses etc. Basically, she'd never be able to pay it off and always owe him.

I'm against the $15K, but your comment that she would never pay it off and always owe him is bullshit. The only ones that could be really hardshipped by this overhead would be independents, especially those who don't work full time or who aren't as busy as younger gals.

$15K/employee though would be a barrier to entry, and only established or well-heeled agencies would be able to foot the bill.

 

[GPIDEAL]

we are washed up and undesirable at 30.

So you should be paid enough to retire at 30 ?

When going into the SP business it is your job to expect reduced income upon aging and react accordingly by having an alternative plan for income

Yoga, Catherine St. Claire's point was that at 30 or over, she's not 'revolver-door' busy like the young ones, so it's more difficult to justify a hefty fee of $15K per year.

 

[GPIDEAL]

fuji, the only reason I can't win debates with you is because you're too dumb to know when you have lost.

Fuji is not dumb at all. He's just the most stubborn when it comes to his POV. I think the majority of the time I agree with him, but lots of his posts seem that he just wants to stir the pot, or incite debate.

 

[frankcastle]

If this 15K tax happened why can't the SP just move outside of the tax area? Open a brothel outside of Mamoloti's area?

 

[sharpbloke]

some of the sp's say they pay taxes on their income. well as a percentage how much? i mean with a "legit" job you're paying a minimum of about 30% i think if you're paying less than that well you're not paying a fair share. (probably get my virtual cock bit off for this).

 

[Jennifer_]

some of the sp's say they pay taxes on their income. well as a percentage how much? i mean with a "legit" job you're paying a minimum of about 30% i think if you're paying less than that well you're not paying a fair share.

I don't get the us vs them stuff stuff that tends to go hand-in-hand with topics such as this.

I know how the "real world" works and I've had "real jobs" - I know how paycheques look after taxes.

I do what I do because it's "worth it" for me to do it.

If I made less - I would either charge more or not do it.

I understand it may irk a few people but the only reason why you have a helluva lot of great, intelligent ladies available to you in this city at a decent price is because we aren't losing 30% of our wages to taxes plus our basic overhead.

I'm sorry - that's just the way it is.

 

[frankcastle]

some of the sp's say they pay taxes on their income. well as a percentage how much? i mean with a "legit" job you're paying a minimum of about 30% i think if you're paying less than that well you're not paying a fair share. (probably get my virtual cock bit off for this).

Remember the 15 K is above and beyond income tax.

And most people are not paying 30% income tax. Only the amount above and beyond the amount that garners 30% is taxed like that. So I'd say that as most people are making less that 100 K they are paying 20 someodd percent.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html

here are the rates. And don't forget the first 10K you make is tax free.

My hope is that if they are going to go after cash trades they don't forget about tradespeople...... not just SPs

 

[Moviefan-2]

Would you also like us to start collecting verified customer information and sending invoices to your home addresses?

Touche. Even though I know it's a rhetorical question, I still want to confirm the answer is "no."

 

[trod]

Mammoliti can go fuck himself in the mirror.

 

[sharpbloke]

all I'm really saying is we all use and enjoy the services taxes provide and I feel everyone should contribute. call me a socialist i guess. I can see the sp perspective, that being no one is enforcing the payment of taxes so why would you do it (Warren Buffet has a similar view). In the same situation I would be tempted to do the same but as someone that does have to pay I do feel it is a little unfair. I apologize to people feeling I have provided an "us vs. them" situation with my comment. I believe the sp is a noble profession as it provides happiness and relief for many. But i don't think paying taxes should be seen as a consequence for making I imagine to be a fairly lucrative employment choice. anyway i believe any form of taxation on this is a pipe dream anyway.

 

[DigitallyYours]

Well, SPs still have to pay consumer tax, property tax so I they do contribute to the federal and municipal coffers somewhat. And they won't be enjoying any sort of CPP or UI so they don't deserve those deductions. But no, they aren't adding to the federal bank account as much as the rest of us so any social benefits they get from the feds are being subsidized by the everyone else. And a $15k municipal tax won't help that.

SPs should pay income tax on their annual full earnings. Period. So should anyone else working in a cash business. If that means some girls leave the biz, go ahead and leave. If you have such amazing skills that you could be earning more elsewhere, what are you waiting for? Go. Don't look back. If you have to raise your rates, then raise them. I do think that everyone should pay their fair share.

If you see your work as a real job, then you should be treated like it is a real job.

 

[DigitallyYours]

Would you also like us to start collecting verified customer information and sending invoices to your home addresses?

Personal services aren't deductible. Why would I need an invoice?

 

[MattRoxx]

I'm against the $15K, but your comment that she would never pay it off and always owe him is bullshit. The only ones that could be really hardshipped by this overhead would be independents, especially those who don't work full time or who aren't as busy as younger gals.

$15K/employee though would be a barrier to entry, and only established or well-heeled agencies would be able to foot the bill.

Okay it was exaggeration but the fee would lead to exploitation. And there is the scenario of an SP who decides she wants to quit or leave while still owing thousands. I agree with you, it would be (and is designed to be) a barrier to entry.
It's a bad deal all round; another thoughtless brainfart that Mammoliti has said to stir up controversy.

 

[MattRoxx]

Also, this city is really bad at licensing. Too much red tape, too many regulations, too many inspectors with long lists of rules and infractions.
Anyone remember the "Food To Go" program and licensing that was going to give Torontonians a wide range of diverse types of foods sold by sidewalk vendors? This article is from a year ago.
http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/lo...art-fails-110413/20110413/?hub=TorontoNewHome

'A la Cart' food vendor program a flop: City report
A program designed to diversify food sold by street vendors in Toronto has been called a failure by a new report written by the City's senior staff.

The "a la Cart" program was introduced two years ago to give Torontonians the opportunity to eat more than the traditional street meat of grilled hot dogs.

Issa Ashtarieh, who has struggled to make any profit from his cart on the corner of University Avenue at College Street, said the failure of the program comes as no surprise to him.

"Something breaks everyday. There's nothing else to break. Nothing works. It's only the grill, and you can get that at Canadian Tire for $500," said Ashtarieh, referring to the cart that food vendors were required to purchase through the program.

To comply with regulations, Astarieh had to pay $30,000 for his equipment two years ago, and now he is being told the program hasn't met its objectives.

City Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong said, "the a la Cart program is pretty much dead anyway and hopefully what we'll do is drive a stake into the heart of it."

The written report recommends that vendors like Ashtarieh should be allowed to continue serving their healthy food at their current locations. It also requests that vendors should be refunded for last year's permit fee, and be waived from future permits for the next three years.

But Ashtarieh said the refund isn't enough because he's worked 14-hour days and seven-day weeks.

"You're talking about $100,000 investment. I mean a year's fee is like $5,000, that's just like a drop in the ocean," he said.

Cesar Palacio, the chair of the City's municipal licensing and standards committee, said he wants to make the playing field more even for vendors. He said that way hot dog vendors can also choose to serve other foods if they so choose.

Astarieh said that is what vendors should have been allowed to do in the first place.

"I feel cheated by the city, they played with eight people's lives like a soccer game," he said.

Only a few of the original a la Cart vendors remain. The report recommends that they should be allowed to continue to sell food and to apply for a regular

A year later. March 2012 and situation still unresolved and bad for the vendors:

Still missing: A City Willing To Work With Food Trucks
Torontoist has a great summary of the latest round of bureaucratic combat between the city and its nascent food truck industry. Here's the nut, and I count at least two obvious problems that councillors should really fix:

The City is picky about locations, and in 2002 city council instituted a blanket moratorium on new licenses for spots in the downtown core. Food Cabbie and Caplansky’s thought they didn’t need to have these burdensome location permits because they were operating out of a private parking lot, outside the City’s licensing jurisdiction.

They were almost right. The problem, as it turns out, is subsection 269G of the City’s licensing bylaw, which specifically forbids owners of licensed parking lots from letting food vendors operate on their property for more than 10 minutes at a time.

So to keep track:

(a) the city has once again gotten itself in to trouble with a blanket moratorium on permitting, a story familiar to anyone who remembers Ossington circa 2009;

(b) which wouldn't be a problem if food trucks (that have passed city health inspection) were allowed to use a private parking lot—and why shouldn't they be? Because it's the way the city's always done it, apparently.

The city could choose to either open up the street permits to more entrants (which would raise the hackles of incumbent hot-dog vendors and chip trucks) or it could loosen the restrictions on private parking lots—maybe at the same time as it lets private residents rent out their parking spaces to people who want them, if they want to be really radical. Another option would be to widen the window that a food truck could operate on the street without getting any permit at all—say, 30 minutes? The prospect of failure with something like that (some roads being crowded with trucks at lunch) seems less worrisome than the failures we've already seen.

http://toronto.openfile.ca/blog/cur...2/still-missing-city-willing-work-food-trucks
If the city can't even get it together to make the food cart program work, I don't have a lot of faith in these same bureaucrats being able to work out a successful program of regulation and inspection for sex trade workers.