Beyond Decriminalization: Sex-work, Human Rights and a New ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

PIVOT LEGAL SOCIETYfinancial stability. In order to pay into RRSPs, for example, a person requires what is termed ‘contributionroom’ in the ITA. “Contribution room” is calculated at 18 percent of earned income reportedto Revenue Canada for the prior year. Therefore, a person who does not claim any income is noteligible to make RRSP contributions. Obviously, if they do not pay tax, they do not need the taxrelief that an RRSP payment provides, but as a consequence, they are unable to take advantage of thecustomary vehicle that many citizens use to plan for their retirement.One participant described the difficulty of planning for a financially secure future when notclaiming income:A. If you don’t want to pay your tax on, you can’t put your money in the bank. So youalways have your money and you have to think about where you put your money?Do you hide it in your house? Well that’s not always a good idea, because you usuallyhave some shady fucking boyfriends, or some shady friends or there’s people around.So it’s not a safe thing to have this kind of money . . . . Well then you tend to carryit around with you all the time. Well, what happens when you carry money around?You spend it . . . . The fact that you can’t make an effort to save your money, withoutpaying tax on it, that is a huge stumbling block, right there.- female massage parlour owner, former sex workerOne participant described the advantages of a legitimate income:A. And then you could become legitimate too and then you could then, like, buy a house.And then you could do this and then you could do that. If you are not paying taxes,you can’t prove your income. You cannot do those things.- female off-street in-call sex workerAnother talked about a sex worker she knows who pays income tax and has achieved financial security:A. I met this woman a long time ago in C****. She’s still up there . . . She was, was aprostitute in C****. Everybody knew and she always filed income tax, every year . . .She claimed all her money and paid her taxes and in the end she got a lot more outof it . . . So she’s got her pension and that’s – think it is imperative to have pension– plus all the extra money that she made when she bought the house and her propertyand all that now and she’s set for life. . . . After a while you it was just like okay, that’sthe town prostitute. It was just like nothing any more . . . Yeah, she still shopped at thecorner grocery store, she still raised the kids, just a regular woman. The whole towngot to see her finally. What a warrior for women’s’ rights – that beautiful lady!- female off-street in-call sex workerWhile higher paid sex workers commented that paying taxes would make it easier for them topurchase houses and other assets, female street-level sex workers emphasized the advantage of gainingaccess to government benefits, such as the Canada Pension Plan:A. I don’t want to be 65 and out there working . . . you have nothing to fall back on to.You know, it is one of the disadvantages about it. If we had a union, and we all paytaxes, and by rights we should have something to fall back onto. Especially [in] ourtax bracket. You know, we should be able to have something at the end of all that.- female street-level sex workers Supra note 1, s. 146: Contribution room refers to the maximum amount a tax payer can deduct from contributions made toRRSPs. The calculation is based, in part, on earned income from the previous year and unused RRSP deduction room from the previousyear. Unused RRSP deduction room is a tax payer’s RRSP deduction limit for the year minus the amount deducted for RRSPcontributions for that year.162
BEYOND DECRIMINALIZATION: Sex Work, Human Rights and a New Framework for Law ReformA. Hey, they want this legalized, they wanna help us out, they want to make this a legalthing? The government wants a piece of the pie? Fine. Tax us. Pension us. Everythingelse like a regular job. It also gives you maternity leave, it also gives you paid leave,workers compensation, in case you get hurt on the job, god knows you could get lockjaw.- female street-level sex workersQ. Okay, so you would be willing to claim income taxes on your work?A. I would.A. I think in my situation, having . . . claiming the taxes . . . yeah, I think that wouldbe okay with me. I would want to see . . . ah, what is that, worker’s compensationand stuff.A. That would be good! That would be really good. Because if we got beat up . . .A. Yeah, and we can’t work for . . .A. That’s fine!A. A lot of times, us girls, we do get beat up and stuff like that. So that would be alrightbecause a lot of times if we got really badly hurt, and we had those things around . . .A. And we can’t work for that month, or those months . . .A. Exactly, exactly.- female street-level sex workersSome sex workers noted that they are hesitant to claim income to Revenue Canada for fear that theywould then be subject to investigation for breach of the criminal laws related to prostitution. Andmany are bothered by the double standard involved in taxing a criminal activity:A. Unfortunately that’s a double standard that I don’t agree with. Because on one handthey are saying, Pay your taxes. And oh sure, they are going to decriminalize it. Buton the other hand it is still illegal and they are arresting people for it . . . How canthey make you pay taxes on something that’s illegal? And you can sit in jail for it? It’sbullshit. It’s bullshit. It’s a double standard. They say one thing and do another.- female street-level sex workerOther sex workers reported that Revenue Canada treated them scornfully:A. Even with Revenue Canada. I asked them a few times . . . I said, “well, what can weclaim and what can’t we claim?” And I said to the guy, I said “well look . . . for mywork . . . to bring up my income, I went in and had a boob-job. Can I claim that?”He started laughing and said no. I said, “well, why not?” If I were mechanical andbuy more tools, you know . . . and I said, okay, listen, how about condoms? And hesaid, no, you can’t claim that. And I said, “well, what’s the difference between mebuying 10 boxes of condoms or the guy in the office buying ten boxes of paper clips?. . . until we get through that barrier, we have to find out . . . we don’t even knowwhat we can and can’t claim on taxes.- female off-street out-call sex workerSuch experiences with tax officials lead many sex workers to refrain from attempting to obtain moreinformation about filing of taxes, their personal tax liability, and entitlement to deductions. Oneparticipant indicated the need for much more information:A. That would be great if Revenue Canada would work with us and tell us what we canand can’t do. But they don’t give us any guidelines . . . Well . . . I want to know whatI can and can’t claim. You know, I want to know what I can . . . how much income163
Page 4:
PIVOT LEGAL SOCIETYPart 2: Municipa
Page 21 and 22:
BEYOND DECRIMINALIZATION: Sex Work,
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112: BEYOND DECRIMINALIZATION: Sex Work,
Page 161: BEYOND DECRIMINALIZATION: Sex Work,
Page 213 and 214:
Page 215 and 216:
Page 217 and 218:
Page 219 and 220:
Page 221 and 222:
Page 223 and 224:
Page 225 and 226:
Page 227 and 228:
Page 229:
show all

Beyond Decriminalization: Sex-work, Human Rights and a New ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?