Response to interpellation 2023/24:97 on taxation of income from the sale of sexual services
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M believes that it is unreasonable to tax income from prostitution since it concerns the abuse of a person's body rather than work 1. M emphasizes that prostitution should be combated and that the government is investing 600 million SEK in the work against prostitution and human trafficking 2, while at the same time M calls for support from civil society. S argues that the Swedish Tax Agency should stop chasing these funds as it can reduce incentives for women to leave prostitution and risk creating tax debts that keep them trapped 1. S considers that the state contributes to a form of money laundering when they collect money from illegal acts 3 4. S suggests that tax debts should be written off for women who enter exit programs. S believes that it is urgent to change the situation where the Swedish Tax Agency collects tax from prostitution, as this cements women's vulnerability and makes it harder for them to leave prostitution 5 6. S argues that the Swedish Tax Agency can determine whether funds originate from prostitution or professional crime. C believes that the Swedish Tax Agency has painted itself into a corner and that the agency's actions stand in direct opposition to the government's strategy against men's violence against women 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)
Madam Speaker! Hanna Westerén has asked me whether I consider it reasonable to tax income derived from a criminal act, namely sex sales, and if not, what measures I intend to take. Hanna Westerén has also asked me what responsibility I consider the Swedish Tax Agency to have regarding the women who are victims of crime and what initiatives I am prepared to take. Hanna Westerén has finally asked whether I intend to take any further measures to safeguard the interests of the women who are victims of crime.
Persons who are exploited in prostitution are in a position of great vulnerability and shall be offered support and help to leave prostitution. Prostitution causes serious harm to both individual individuals and society as a whole. One of the government's central priorities is to prevent and combat exploitation in prostitution and human trafficking and to provide support to the persons who are subjected to it. The ban on the purchase of sexual services is an important tool in the work to combat demand.
The Government focuses on both preventing and combating prostitution, and on helping persons who are in prostitution to leave prostitution. Currently, an investigation is underway to review the conditions for an exit program for adults who are subjected to prostitution and human trafficking for sexual purposes, as well as a program for children subjected to sexual exploitation and human trafficking for sexual purposes. The investigator will report on the assignment to the Government in the near future. The Government will return with how the proposals shall be handled after that.
Hanna Westerén (S)
Madam Speaker! I appreciate that we can have this debate, and I appreciate the great commitment demonstrated in this issue. There are several members who want to debate and reason, and in the gallery today there are also representatives from the organization Talita who in an outstanding way support women who want to leave prostitution.
It was also Talita who alerted several of us members that the Swedish Tax Agency had relatively suddenly started taxing money derived from prostitution again. Prostitution - that is, that a person, preferably of the male sex, takes the right to, for payment, abuse another person's, preferably a woman's, body for their own satisfaction's sake.
I mean that is where we must begin: in what one wants and what one feels forced to do. It is about what support society offers and with what voice the state speaks to the one who finds themselves in a vulnerable position. For it becomes a bit convoluted that the Swedish Tax Agency tracks down the at least sourly acquired coins when sex work is criminalized today as if prostitution were the sale of a good to be taxed with VAT or a job of any kind from which the public should take its share.
Even more confusing it becomes when the Swedish Tax Agency, according to its own statement, makes a distinction between people who sell sex and people who are victims of human trafficking. A strange distinction considering that even sex buying is about buying the right to abuse another person's body. Nor has it been long since the Swedish Tax Agency urged women in prostitution to obtain a F-tax certificate, as if one could actually run a business in Sweden today by allowing oneself to be sexually abused.
Thankfully, the Swedish Tax Agency has ceased providing that type of advice this year, but the fact remains that the Swedish Tax Agency – given the other high-priority assignments it has to pursue individuals who make money from crime in the labor market, tax evasion, and tax avoidance – still allocates resources to pursue cases to tax women who sell sex. Is this, according to Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson, a reasonable prioritization? Does the Finance Minister believe that the incentives to leave prostitution increase or decrease if one also has a tax debt of tens of thousands of kronor hanging over them?
I would like to conclude by pointing out that it is positive that the Minister for Finance highlights and shines a light on the investigation into so-called exit for prostitutes. Clearly, society's support for women who want to leave prostitution needs to become much better than it is today. But if the state is to continue to, with one hand in the sex purchase law, free the selling woman, only to make her a tax criminal with support from other legislation, exit measures risk becoming weak or even obsolete. A tax debt can be just that which keeps you in prostitution.
How can the Swedish Tax Agency act to avoid further worsening the vulnerability of prostitutes? How can we as a society better meet vulnerability and prevent more violence and humiliation? And once again: Do the incentives to leave prostitution increase or decrease through the Swedish Tax Agency's actions?
Helena Vilhelmsson (C)
Madam Speaker! Thank you for allowing us to have this extremely important debate!
To be in prostitution is to be vulnerable. It is the world's oldest oppression, often with life at stake. It causes lifelong damage, shame, guilt, and anxiety. Therefore, it is very good that we have long had the sex purchase laws in Sweden, where the blame is placed where it belongs, namely on the one who buys sex. I thought that the Judiciary and the Administration were quite in agreement on this – until we heard about the case with "Maja".
"Maja" happened to be caught for a burglary in her apartment, and the police came there to investigate the crime. They noted that "Maja" had a large amount of cash and reported her to Skatteverket. One might wonder why they did that, but that is not the Finance Minister's concern.
"Maja", who was honest and admitted that the money came from prostitution, was prosecuted and convicted of tax crimes because she had failed to pay tax. She was sentenced to pay 60,000 kronor. In context, it can be mentioned that Paolo Roberto was fined 15,000 kronor.
But it doesn't end there. "Maja" was thus requested by the Swedish Tax Agency to start a company and pay tax in order to, in that way, make amends and avoid new indictments. This is where it really begins, in my opinion, to creak in the joints of the nation Sweden.
I asked a question to the Minister for Finance earlier this summer about what the government intends to do about this situation. Is it the government's intention that money from an illegal act, through the involvement of a vulnerable person, should be collected in the form of taxes?
The answer was that the Minister for Finance cannot comment on the Swedish Tax Agency's response. But that was not my question either, my question was what the government considers regarding this.
The double standard is endless. If prostitutes are to pay taxes, what deductions shall they be allowed to make? Shall they be allowed to make deductions for costs for condoms, lubricant, medicines, pregnancy tests, HIV tests, and travel to and from an apartment brothel, where they might otherwise be locked up? Then it is fortunate that one can file a tax return digitally.
Selling sex is not like selling any other service. We cannot equate selling a pizza with selling sex.
If prostitutes are to pay tax and be encouraged to start businesses, why has the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) then responded that prostitution is not a sustainable business idea and thus denied an F-tax certificate?
If a vulnerable woman also has to have a company, she must have a bank account. But it happens that banks refuse prostitutes to open a bank account because prostitution is not a sustainable livelihood. Why does Skatteverket not seek out the sex buyers and establish that they should pay social security contributions for their sex purchases? Why is there even a business code, an SNI code, where it is possible to classify sexual services and sexual trade? There is, for example, the SNI code other service activities.
I know that the Minister for Finance cannot answer why the Swedish Tax Agency does this or that, but that is not my question either. My question is about what the Minister for Finance and the government think about this. If the government remains silent, one is, in my opinion, contributing to a form of money laundering. It is money from an illegal activity that enters the state administration. It is not okay for me that the state does this.
Annika Strandhäll (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for Finance that we can have this incredibly urgent debate today. I could not refrain from signing up for it. Just as has been established in the previous entries, this is a completely absurd situation that must be addressed. I also appreciate that Talita conducts an activity with such clear and strong support for women who are in prostitution and is now pushing this issue so hard. Talita has alerted us politicians to this absurdity.
Just as Helena Vilhelmsson said, we have had a law in the country since 1 January 1999 that criminalizes the purchase of sexual services - the sex purchase act. I made the same reflection as Helena Vilhelmsson, namely that by Skatteverket collecting tax revenue that comes from an illegal act, one can draw parallels to, for example, hallickar, who illegally force women into prostitution. But it is also about the state forcing in money from something that the state knows comes from an illegal act in order to then use the money in ordinary operations. It definitely borders on a form of money laundering, which the state then participates in.
I was surprised when I heard the Finance Minister's answer to the interpellation. It was truly a non-answer. That we politicians are upset about the sex trade, and that there must be exit programs, is naturally commendable, but it really was not an answer to the question – just as Helena Vilhelmsson said. It really was not an answer to the question, but the question was what the politician Elisabeth Svantesson wants. What does Sweden's Finance Minister want? Does Sweden's Finance Minister want to put a stop to this or not? Can we get a clear and distinct answer? There are many people listening to the debate today.
Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)
Madam Speaker! I also want to thank Hanna Westerén for a very important interpellation. This is an important issue. I also thank Talita, who has alerted me and several others here in the chamber - even if there are not many of us here right now - to this issue. I also take the opportunity to thank you for all the other work you do for vulnerable women who are hit hard all around Sweden.
Madam Speaker! Christmas is approaching, and it is the first of Advent on Sunday. I walk a lot here in Stockholm and at home in Örebro, and I usually think of all the beautiful windows with all the beautiful decorations. It is so beautiful everywhere. But I often wonder what is happening in there. We all know that there are many homes and places in Sweden where women suffer in various ways. It can be about violence in the home, and it can be about women being exploited in prostitution - which is what today's question is about. It could be a question of a beautiful villa neighborhood or a basement somewhere in the Stockholm area. Everywhere, I know that right now, at this moment, women are being hit hard. It is rape and assault, and it is a matter of great vulnerability.
I want to emphasize once again that it is important that we do things together. I am glad that there is a broad consensus in the Swedish Riksdag on issues regarding prostitution and vulnerability.
Is it reasonable to collect tax, Madam Speaker, from women who are victims of prostitution, who have been raped, assaulted and suffered injuries, mental and physical, for the rest of their lives? Of course, I see the unreasonableness in this.
What is happening to many of these women is appalling. That we are now paying attention to this is a way to solve issues moving forward. As I mentioned in my response to the interpellation, an investigation is currently underway regarding an exit program that will soon submit its report. I will read it with great care and look at what recommendations and proposals that investigation provides. I am, of course, excluding nothing. This is an unreasonable situation, but legislation can, as everyone knows, be rigid. Here, it is also a matter of different legislations clashing with one another. And it affects the most vulnerable women.
The straight answer is that I absolutely see the absurdity in this situation, and I definitely do not rule out that we seriously need to review the issue. All of us here in the chamber know that the issue is complex, but neither I nor the government rule out reviewing the issue to actually rectify the absurdity – I do not know which word Hanna Westerén used – and it is confusing from many perspectives.
Hanna Westerén (S)
Madam Speaker! Confusing was the word!
I am a friend of order and tidiness, and I know that Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson also describes herself as such. I believe we can agree - so that there is no doubt - that we obviously must have a functioning tax system in Sweden. The Swedish Tax Agency shall collect tax on income from work. It is also important that we agree today that prostitution is not a job. Prostitution involves the sale of a service, but the service itself is prohibited to purchase. It is important that we remember this, that we are talking about big things and the abuse of another person's body.
I view it positively that Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson says she sees the absurdity in this. It is a step in the right direction. But I also want to point out that there are member states in the European Union that have come significantly further than we have, which write off the tax debt when a woman leaves prostitution and enters an exit program. I mean that it is a measure worth considering.
It concerns me that the Minister for Finance does not utter a single word about those types of measures. The Minister for Finance says that a review shall take place, and we must clearly do that. But at this moment, there is a state agency that with one hand signals that sex sales are forbidden in Sweden, but the agency wants to have the money. It is problematic. I mean that the signals from the Minister for Finance must be significantly clearer regarding what is to be expected in the future, far more than that a review shall take place.
I also become concerned when the authority we are talking about today, the Swedish Tax Agency, says "ouch ouch ouch" and claims that that type of relief in the legislation would be problematic because it would open up for being able to claim that all sorts of unreported funds originate from prostitution. I consider that to be an unworthy argument, and I really want to send a message to Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson for future work that we hope to avoid that type of reasoning. I personally have high confidence that the Swedish Tax Agency can determine whether it is a question of a woman engaged in prostitution or a professional criminal, and I really hope that Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson also has high confidence that it can be determined.
Since we find ourselves today in a situation where the Swedish Tax Agency collects funds from prostitution, the question is how long this unworthy situation will persist. How much of a hurry are we in? I believe we are in a great hurry. How quickly could we move forward? How long will the state continue to, by law, free the woman who, due to internal or external coercion, sells sex, but with another, unreservedly demand tax funds derived from the abuse of a human being's body and integrity? We need much clearer statements than "review" and that it is unreasonable. We deserve more than that. Above all, this question deserves more than that.
Helena Vilhelmsson (C)
Madam Speaker! Prostitution is neither a job nor a hobby. Now, no one from the Swedish Tax Agency is here, so they cannot defend themselves, but I truly think they have painted themselves into a corner. By saying what they say, there is, as Hanna Westerén just mentioned, nothing left but to proceed with political decisions. I mean that the Swedish Tax Agency could have solved this anyway. But I am grateful for the statement that Elisabeth Svantesson gives, because then we can actually come up with political decisions when this investigation arrives in December.
It is somewhat horrible that the Swedish Tax Agency, on its website, urges prostitutes to pay tax according to the main rule in the tax legislation and so on. This is in direct opposition to the government's national strategy to prevent and combat violence against women, which includes prostitution, and furthermore in opposition to both agency instructions and regulatory letters stating that all agencies shall contribute to combating violence against women. Nevertheless, the Swedish Tax Agency acts in this manner.
I look forward to the investigation and the bill that is to come. I am fairly convinced that we can achieve a change here together, because there is an enormous amount of hypocrisy in the handling that is taking place now.
Annika Strandhäll (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for Finance for the answer and the clarification that I perceive the Minister for Finance gave.
I believe that the fact that the Minister for Finance also considers the situation unreasonable is important. At the same time, it is exactly as Hanna Westerén says: It is important, but it is not enough. There is, quite obviously, a very large consensus between the parties in the Swedish Riksdag that this situation must be changed.
I also think exactly what Helena Vilhelmsson said just now – that one would have wished that the authority itself could have handled the situation without it having to go this far and become this complicated.
At the same time, I noted that the Director General of the Swedish Tax Agency as recently as four days ago in a comment in Svenska Dagbladet clarified exactly the opposite. We are only following the law, she clarified.
It is not only that one, as a legislator and authority, in this case signals something that is completely unreasonable. It is also the case that since women who are prostitutes can end up in debt, there is a risk that it will create a locking-in effect for these women.
Change is urgent, and we expect such an initiative from the government.
Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)
Madam Speaker! In a time when we have a lot of polarization, both in society at large and in the political debate, I think it is very fine that we stand united in the fight for these women.
Many of these women live in an extremely vulnerable situation, and I am afraid there are significantly more of them today than there were just a few years ago. They need our help - the help of the public sector, the help of civil society, and the help of fellow human beings. All of us who in different ways have power or responsibility or the opportunity to help need to do so.
In addition to the exit program that the previous government appointed, the government is working on some other parts. I just want to mention it in this debate. For example, we are making an investment in the budget to strengthen the work against gender-related and honor-related violence and oppression. Those funds will also strengthen the work against prostitution and human trafficking. There are approximately 600 million kronor in earmarked funds for the work against this.
Madam Speaker! There are several parts to this. We in here know and have said that it is a rather new issue in the sense that we were not aware of this in this way until Talita highlighted it.
Some is the authority Skatteverket and how one works there. I maintain a close dialogue with Skatteverket.
Some are about legislation. As I mentioned here earlier, it is complex because there are different legislations that clash. Then it becomes very confusing.
A third part is this investigation, which will arrive soon and which we will take part in. I am sure that all of us here in the room will take part in it and see what of this we can carry forward.
I can promise both the interpellor and others here in the chamber that this is an important and prioritized issue. Prostitution must be combated. These women's situation with oppression and vulnerability, the enormous vulnerability that many of us here inside have faced in different ways, must change. We must work in different ways. This is an important part that you have highlighted.
I will continue to follow the issue and see what we can do to ensure that what is unreasonable here, the unreasonable in this situation that I mentioned in the previous answer, can cease. Today it is difficult to know exactly how we will proceed, but we will continue to follow the issue and see what needs to be done after the exit study is in place. I can guarantee that I will not let go of my part of this, which is precisely taxation since it is my area of responsibility in the government.
Hanna Westerén (S)
Madam Speaker! Given what has been said here today, there is every reason to return to this issue. It is completely obvious that we need to move forward and that it is urgent.
For me, it is urgent for several reasons.
Part of me wants to live in a country with a functioning sex purchase law. I think we should be very proud of the sex purchase law we have, where the person who sells sex is to be regarded as a crime victim and should receive support and help based on that – also in terms of how the money from the abuse of her body is handled.
As a Social Democrat, I have higher ambitions for state activities. I refuse to silently accept that a state agency blindly and unreservedly collects funds derived from prostitution and thereby cements these women's situation and makes it harder for them to leave the quagmire of violence and humiliation that prostitution is.
I am a feminist, Madam Speaker, and that is why it is my duty to raise my voice when such an obvious blunder occurs in Swedish administration in 2023. Prostitution is a fruit of an ever-unequal society and an obvious example of men's violence against women.
We have observed here today that there is a consensus that perhaps surprised us but which is also pleasing and which I hope will guarantee good efforts ahead.
But I also want to point out the clear responsibility that rests with the government. Here, Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson has an excellent opportunity to make a difference for some of society's most vulnerable and unfree women. I sincerely hope that she takes it.
Finansministern Elisabeth Svantesson (M)
Madam Speaker! Once again, I would like to express my thanks to Hanna Westerén, who has raised the issue today, and also to Helena Vilhelmsson and Annika Strandhäll for the questions and the discussion.
Christmas is approaching, as I said. Christmas is wonderful for very many in our country but one of the most dreadful holidays for many others. Children are trafficked around Sweden, and women are exploited. Often, the major holidays can become extra painful in many different ways.
In addition to the fact that we here inside have the power to influence politically, we can also together, as fellow human beings, do much more than we do today. I can take this opportunity to advertise and urge you who are watching this broadcast in some way, perhaps at home by the televisions or afterwards on the web, to join in and support organizations such as Talita and others that help vulnerable women. The state, the municipalities, and the regions have a great responsibility, but there is also a tremendous force in civil society. Many women also prefer to turn to a civil society organization rather than to an authority. That said, we from the public sector will, of course, do everything we can.
Once again - thank you! We will surely have reason to return to the question.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.