Thailand drafts bill to decriminalize its billion-dollar sex trade

[DJ54]

reckon their work place will have to pay taxes.. social security etc..

[cowellandrew]

more safely and earn higher wages. 

 

And then Tax it!

 

☻

[Bangkok Barry]

3 hours ago, renaissanc said:

The Police in Bangkok, Pattaya, etc., will be crying now. How will they be able to extort money from sex trade workers, bars, and whoever else each month when the law has been passed? 

And that is why it won't. Same as there will never be the official casinos they sometimes speak of opening. Vested interests take steps to maintain the status quo.

[zzaa09]

47 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

And that is why it won't. Same as there will never be the official casinos they sometimes speak of opening. Vested interests take steps to maintain the status quo.

Could never see this coming about.

The hidden and black economies are just too influential. 

Tradition.

[kwilco]

If it helps the workers, that's great, however one just feels it will only help those with money who run it.

[LukKrueng]

Great idea. But then they will have to pay tax and social security. Would they really like it then? Will the customers like paying the extra to cover those expenses?

[Shocked farang]

5 hours ago, Purdey said:

Things will continue but the RTP won't extort money from the girls. I guess the pubs will still be guilty of human trafficking though. 

Some businesses that get extorted are totally legal businesses, such as restaurants and bars. You only need a certain amount of success in Thailand to become a victim of extortion. 

[JackGats]

Sometimes, illegal but largerly overlooked is better than legal and heavily regulated. Look at what happened in Western Europe. Prostituion there has gone downhill since it got increasingly legalised.

[billd766]

3 hours ago, madmitch said:

Interesting timing with Parliament currently dissolved and an election  due in a month.

Plus a caretaker government. with no legal authority to pass or even introduce any new laws.

[3NUMBAS]

they never did come to see the temples

[Caldera]

Legalize it, tax it. Win-win. 

[waders123]

Sex Workers in Thailand!?!!??  Fake News....

[still kicking]

6 hours ago, 3NUMBAS said:

they never did come to see the temples

I did 17 times

[jabis]

Riveting to see how this translates to real life...

[tgw]

7 hours ago, Shocked farang said:

Some businesses that get extorted are totally legal businesses, such as restaurants and bars. You only need a certain amount of success in Thailand to become a victim of extortion. 

what I read earlier about the legalization project is that the government wants to issue "licences".

 

the problem with licences is that officials just sit on them and it can take years to issue one, and in the meanwhile, the business is racketeered by the BiB.

 

they should do away with the licencing and simplify the "rules"

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

14 hours ago, Snig27 said:

I hate to tell you this, but Prayut has been in power for 9 years now and none of these advances had anything to do with his closeted mind. 

But Thaksin, Thaksin…….

Thaksin, the progressively minded guy who brought back a long forgotten law on selling alcohol after midnight and afternoons. Not forgetting the 2,500 who died in his war on drugs and others who disappeared to say nothing of not paying his tax.

[whaleboneman]

20 hours ago, quake said:

So Happy endings are official now. 

 

That may be premature...

[WHansen]

Expect the price of 'purchased company' to go up drastically if prostitution is indeed legalised

[mikebell]

The police will never permit this law to materialise.

[Paul Henry]

"Current legislation is out of date NOW". Sex and prostitution have been around for thousands of years but the Thai Government has just realized their laws are out of date. Well it does take all types to make the world go round.

[Dogmatix]

Obviously the government’s heart was not in this bill or why would they announce it after parliament has already been dissolved and there is no chance of it going through any of its parliamentary readings, let alone being passed into law?  New governments rarely pick up old bills left behind from the previous government. Can only assume it is to allow Prayut to claim he is doing something for women's rights or something on the campaign trail. Seeing as only soliciting to the extent of being a nuisance to someone and keeping a bawdy house are illegal in the current Act, this one is no big deal. But the bill would  make it illegal to have sex a hooker under 20 (previously 18) not mentioned in the article. However, there were very few successful prosecutions for this under the current law because it is difficult for police to prove that it was commercial sex, since the customers can easily pay more to get the hooker to say it was free of charge. So police never tried hard to enforce this but do go for statutory rape prosecutions for sex with under 15s under the Criminal Code which is much easier to prove since it makes no difference if no money changed hands or if consent was given.  But given the large number of 18 and 19 year old prostitutes on the game to support their fatherless kids this provision may be a bit ridiculous and perhaps lucky that the government didn't attempt to pass the bill into law. 

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

On 4/9/2023 at 7:53 AM, WHansen said:

Expect the price of 'purchased company' to go up drastically if prostitution is indeed legalised

More fuquin tax.

[bristolgeoff]

Like all the other comments ask the gov we don,t have a sex trade or anything else.Does not exist

[garyk]

The government getting involved.  Great idea.  That should kill whats left of tourism..