ID cards for Panama sex workers abolished

SEX WORKERS in Panama’s brothels will no longer need to have a mandatory identification card following a decision of the Municipal Council. The decision to eliminate the mandatory ID was published in the Official Gazette (No. 27559-A.) on Wednesday, June 18.

” The agreement to abolish the card for “alternators” (prostitutes) was signed by the president and vice president of the Council, Carlos Herrera Pérez and Iván Vásquez.

Businesses conducting “brothel activity within the municipality of Panama” are charged a tax of $ 150 a month for each sex worker.

This represents a tax of $ 1,800 a year going into city coffers for every sex worker.

The tax base is expected to grow, which with the elimination of mandatory identification of sex workers, reports La Prensa