From an Aussie news site:
A 15-YEAR-old schoolgirl in northeast England earned about £14,000 ($A30,641) over two months by working as a prostitute. Her unusual weekend job was exposed when a teacher at her school in South Shields, near Newcastle, found condoms, lubricant and details of the agency she worked for in her school bag.
Police officers who searched her home found more than £8000 stashed in the attic in November last year. The girl, who cannot be named because she is a minor, is thought to have netted around £1700 pounds every weekend.
…
The court decided the cash should be forfeited to the authorities.
A lot of people, perhaps a majority in the USA, THINK prostitution is wrong. Many KNOW it. While i know it has been around longer than money has and I know laws have never prevented it, I don’t know if it is evil … but the tax rate sure seems high.
Between direct and indirect taxes, I involuntarily pay about 50% of my earnings in taxes. At first blush, it appears the tax rate on prostitution is 100%. I don’t know the exact odds of getting caught and robbed by the authorities, but would be surprised if they confiscate one out of a hundred dollars thus earned. Pretending they do, the tax rate is then only 1%.
By what right did the schoolteacher rummage this woman’s bag? By what rights did the men rummage her house? By what rights did they take money they found in her attic?
But she’s only 15 years old.
Would it be okay for a 15-year old in Zimbabwae to marry a farmer, rather than starving? How about a Bolivian girl marrying away from an abusive father? Or an Thai teen who is eager to raise a family? Who gets to decide for these girls when it is okay and when it is not okay to exchange sexual relations, pride, pleasure, love or whatever they get out of it, for security?
While I am glad my daughters have chosen other means to make their livings, I still don’t feel qualified, nor know of anyone else who is qualified to judge this British teen’s choices, let alone steal her money.
Take for instance The Judge who gets paid to leave his home, don black robes and spend hours every Monday through Friday making god-like decisions about other people’s lives and money. Is he not selling some piece of himself, his time, his morality and in his case particularly, selling his humility for money?
How about the policemen who spend their workweeks limiting the liberties of people in their communities based on laws written by immoral men in their nation’s capital. Wouldn’t they rather be fishing? But they sell their minds and bodies to enforcing the dictates of the politically powerful.
Where did this girl get the idea it was okay to give men pleasure in exchange for money? How could she conclude that selling herself immorally was okay?
Maybe her dad works for ATF and her mom for the IRS.