Texas Slaps a Tax on Strip Clubs
By DAVID KOENIG – found
at ap.google.com
A dancer performs at a the gentleman's club in Dallas, Texas, Tuesday, Dec.
18, 2007. Beginning New Year's Day, Texas will require clubs to collect a $5 per
head tax on customers of the state's 150 or so strip clubs. Much of the money
will go to help sexual assault victims. Club owners and some of their customers
say that's a noble cause, but they argue the tax is unconstitutional, will drive
some bars out of business and unfairly links their industry to sex crimes. (AP
Photo/LM Otero)
DALLAS (AP) — Texas, where strip clubs have given rise to Anna
Nicole Smith and many other less-generously endowed performers, is about to
make it more expensive to watch a little bump and grind.
In what some have dubbed the "pole tax," the Lone Star State will
require its 150 or so strip clubs to collect a $5-per-customer levy, with most
of the proceeds going to help rape victims. The tax goes into effect on New
Year's Day.
Club owners and some of their customers say the money is going to a noble
cause, but they argue that the tax infringes on their First Amendment right to
freedom of expression, that it will drive some bars out of business and that it
unfairly links their industry to sex crimes.
"We'll be fine. I've already stopped advertising, and we're raising our
cover charges. But this is going to kill some of the smaller clubs," said
Dawn Rizos, who runs The Lodge, a Hemingway-inspired place that has exotic
animal heads on the walls and is packed after Dallas Cowboys games at nearby
Texas Stadium.
The strip clubs are suing to block the
tax, which state officials estimate will raise more than $40 million a year,
based on liquor sales figures. If accurate, the estimate suggests at least 8
million people a year go to Texas strip clubs to get a lap dance or watch women
pole-dance in a G-string.
"I've been told the fees to get into these places can be $10, $15. I
don't think another $5 is going to prevent someone from going," said Cohen,
who is also president of a women's center that could get funding from the new
law.
Most places will probably raise drink prices and cover charges, or start
charging a cover if they don't do so already.
Strip clubs occupy a mythic place in Texas lore as a spot where young women
can work their way through college and small-town girls with dreams of Hollywood
stardom get their start on the lowest rung of show biz.
Texas' topless spots range from dimly lit dives with pickup trucks lined up
outside to gentlemen's clubs that resemble plush hunting lodges and attract men
in business suits. The pole tax is unlikely to have much effect on your finer
establishments.
On a recent weekday at The Lodge, the cars in the valet parking lot included
BMWs, a Ferrari and several Mercedes. At a table in a back corner sat Jerry
Trigg, an architect who said he goes alone or takes customers to clubs in Dallas
and Houston about three times a week.
Trigg said he typically spends about $50 during each solo visit and $200 or
more when entertaining clients. He said a $5 tax won't affect the number of Diet
Cokes he consumes, tips he doles out or lap dances enjoyed.
But Elle, a 28-year-old former Dallas dancer, said she worries the tax will
hurt women like herself who work their way through college
by stripping (college fuck fest link). She earned a degree from the
University of Texas at Arlington and said she now runs a computer-servicing
business with her husband.
Elle said she averaged $200 a day at the Lodge — "on good days, a hell
of a lot more."
The owners of Players, a small topless bar in Amarillo, are among those suing
the state. They said that adding a $5 tax to the $4 cover could drive away
customers and force the club out of business.
"They won't pay it," said Chandra Brown, president of the company
that owns Players. "They won't come in. They can't afford it."
Some customers and clubs say it is not the extra five bucks; they resent the
implication that strip clubs lead men to commit sex crimes.
Rizos said The Lodge already pays the state $1.3 million a year in taxes, and
the topless tax will be an additional $60,000 per month.
"Run the right way, these businesses can really be a benefit for the
community," Rizos said. "We're a huge convention draw for the city. We
raise money for charity with our car washes."
Utah enacted a 10 percent tax on topless clubs in 2004. That same year, the
Texas Legislature considered a $5-per-head fee, with the money going toward
schools. But lawmakers didn't like the link between strip clubs and kids — the
idea was mocked as "Tassels for Tots" — and the proposal died.
The idea was resurrected last summer by the Texas Association Against Sexual
Assault as a way to open more rape-crisis centers.
In their lawsuit, the clubs said nude dancing is protected by the First
Amendment and the state can't selectively tax it, even if it is conduct some may
find offensive. Besides, they argued, the tax is so broad it could apply to
concerts by performers like Madonna or Britney Spears who wear low-cut tops.
Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law expert at George Washington University,
said the Texas tax goes too far.
"It seems clear legislators are targeting strip clubs because they're
unpopular," Turley said. "Laws like this would expose any unpopular
industry to punitive taxes. It could be abortion clinics."
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