The Daily: In New York, the tax man wants a piece of the strip club action.
Jiggle joints are not exempt from paying sales taxes for admission and lap dances, the New York State Supreme Court ruled yesterday — in a case that had attracted much attention.
Steve Dick, the co-owner of the all-nude Nite Moves in Latham, a suburb of state-capital Albany, fought the tax after receiving a $124,000 tax bill following an audit.
6 comments:
I have to say that the US government really charges tax for everything in everything possible way. I just finished reading a article about how immigration wants to quit the US national identification. And the too high tax is the direct reason they do so. 10 years ago, getting an american green card or a citizen ID is the dream of every foreigner that lived in the States, but now, people who made it are dying to get rid of it. as they say, every dollar they save from their daily life ends up into the pocket of government, to be able to do something that gonna take them several years to discover.
It is understandable that they would continue to be taxed if something like the Ice Capades gets taxed. Both are some kind of performance that all kinds of people come and see. They did however, fail to acknowledge that this is some kind of art form. Personally, I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I think it is an art form. Regardless of what I think that if Steve Dick believes this is an art form, he should exercise his rights and continue fighting for tax exemption. For whatever reason, he believes that this is art. I can't tell how honest he is being but I really hope they can find a jury in supreme court that remains unbiased. I feel like that is going to be difficult to come by because of the social stigmas against pole dancing.
I think it interesting that this article is centering on artistic merit rather than non-profit status. I get the impression, but could be wrong, that most organizations that create performance for the purpose of promoting cultural and artistic performance in a community are not for profits, and therefore exempt from those sorts of taxes. A ballet company certainly is. A Strip Club is not. Are there for-profit companies that qualify for this tax exemption by providing a service to the community? It's not artistic merit that qualifies this- its the community benefit and intention of creating the work.
So, basically, we should have not-for-profit strip clubs, right?
This is a controversial issue. On the one hand if dance companies receive tax breaks then I can see why strip clubs feel like they should also receive tax breaks. They're girls are dancing just as much as ballerinas just in a particularly erotica way. However the question here is really whether ballet studios should be entitled to tax breaks in the first place. They're a legitimate business and should honestly have to pay taxes as much as a strip club pays taxes.
Taxing strip clubs leads to more revenue, which could be used for something important like cancer research. Strip clubs cure cancer, you guys.
Being serious, it doesn't seem outrageous to tax something when almost everything is taxed already. Maybe I would feel differently if I was a male who went to strip clubs... but don't we already get taxed in some way for most, if not all, paid entertainment we see?
I don't think "sin tax" should be a thing, and it seems like that's what this argument is about, but someone quoted made a good point when they stated that the government just wants more tax, not specifically tax from 'unmoral' strip clubs.
The girls that dance get their money in the way of a tip (unless I am wrong) and thats not what gets taxed. strip clubs profit on how much they charge for "private" services and drinks. Makes sense to tax what they are selling, and leave the tips for the expressive freestyle dancing alone. the private sessions (i am assuming) are a little bit more personal and "made to order" so its like a custom experience. that service seems like a reasonable to tax - just like a store sells a coke, or a person sells a massage.
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