Imperial Taxes on Sex Work: How Governments Profited from Ancient Prostitution

When you think of imperial taxes on sex work, government-imposed fees on commercial sexual activity in ancient and colonial empires. Also known as prostitution levies, it was less about morality and more about control—and revenue. Rome taxed brothels as early as the 2nd century BCE. Every sex worker in Ostia or Pompeii paid a fee just to operate. The money didn’t go to clinics or shelters—it filled imperial coffers. This wasn’t regulation. It was extraction.

Across empires, ancient prostitution, the organized, state-recognized exchange of sex for payment in historical societies was never hidden. In Babylon, temple prostitutes paid dues to the priesthood. In China’s Han Dynasty, courtesans were registered and taxed like merchants. Even in medieval Europe, towns collected sex work regulation, local laws and fees governing where, when, and how sex work could occur from brothels, often designating specific streets—red-light zones before the term existed. These weren’t exceptions. They were standard practice. Governments didn’t ban sex work because it was immoral. They taxed it because it was profitable.

The logic was simple: if you can’t stop it, charge for it. In 16th-century Venice, sex workers had to wear colored sashes to be identifiable. In 18th-century London, brothel keepers paid fines to avoid raids. These weren’t safety measures. They were surveillance tools. The state didn’t care if you were exploited—it cared that you paid your share. Even the Roman sex taxes, state-imposed levies on brothels and sex workers during the Roman Empire were collected by publicans, private contractors who bid for the right to rake in the cash. The more women worked, the more the empire earned.

And the pattern didn’t stop with empires. Victorian Britain didn’t outlaw sex work—it regulated it. The Contagious Diseases Acts forced women suspected of being prostitutes into forced medical exams. Those who refused? Jail. Those who paid? They could keep working. The system didn’t protect women. It protected men’s access and the state’s income. This wasn’t about disease control. It was about control over women’s bodies—and the profits they generated.

What these taxes reveal isn’t just economic history. It’s a pattern: when societies criminalize intimacy, they still find ways to profit from it. The same logic echoes today in fines, zoning laws, and digital platform fees that target sex workers while leaving clients untouched. The names change. The tools change. The power dynamic doesn’t.

Below, you’ll find deep dives into how sex work was recorded, punished, and profited from across centuries—from Roman ledgers to Victorian court records. These aren’t just old stories. They’re the blueprint for how power still shapes sex today.