You know, if the government would just levy a $1000 tax for every time you masturbate, think of how many kitten lives would be saved!
Please government! Save the kittens!
Mark
Posted on 12/18/2007 3:20:17 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
AUSTIN — The state's new $5 surcharge for strip club visitors will not violate the clubs' First Amendment free speech rights, state officials argued in a court brief filed in advance of a court hearing.
The new fee, which was approved this year by the Texas Legislature, is set to take effect on Jan. 1. It's expected to raise about $44 million to be dispersed for sexual assault prevention programs and health care for the uninsured.
A state district judge was scheduled today to consider a request made by a group of strip clubs to delay the fee.
The Texas Entertainment Association and Karpod, Inc., the operator of an Amarillo club, sued Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and Comptroller Susan Combs earlier this month.
The clubs say the fee would amount to an unconstitutional tax on nude dancing, a form of expression protected by the First Amendment. They also said the measure unfairly targets strip clubs, while not including modeling studios and adult video arcades.
"If the State has a compelling interest in assisting victims of sexual assault, that interest cannot be supported by taxing constitutionally protected speech based on content, even if the speech is nude entertainment that society may find offensive or disagreeable," the plaintiffs said in their lawsuit.
In a brief filed Monday, Abbott and Combs countered that the fee "does not prohibit nude dancing, does not dictate where live nude entertainment may be presented, does not require any minimum clothing and does not govern the physical setting for the activity."
If the judge agrees to delay the fee, it would open the door for the lawsuit to be considered in a trial.
Supporters decried the possibility that the funds generated by the fee could be withheld.
Annette Burrhus-Clay, executive director of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, said the state lacks resources to keep up with the demand for sexual assault prevention, research, intervention and treatment for offenders.
"The issue for us is an apples-to-apples issue," said state Rep. Ellen Cohen, D-Houston, author of the bill that created the fee. "This is an industry that largely employs women. It's an opportunity to do something for crimes that largely affect women."
An attorney for the plaintiffs declined to comment. Abbott's office, which is representing the state, also declined to comment.
Still no cover in Fort Erie.
I don’t like how government zeros in on certain businesses as tax opportunities like this. Why should this business be saddled with a tax to pay for the uninsured or sex abuse victims? I hope the clubs prevail.
Wrong, you pay tax to the government for you to be on your there property.
The bastard politicians never fail to come up with new ideas for robbery to pick citizen’s pockets.
Right, and the money from the lottery is funding education ... and the money from the tobacco settlement is being used for health care < /sarcasm off
Gotta love Texas, they’re right there on the cutting edge of a brave new world.
Robbing Peter to pay Paul. The kettle calling the pot black. Come on. Let’s get real here. That money will not be used to help anything but the greedy government.
How about a $5.00 fee every time we get in our cars to offset medical fees from accidents?
Where does this end?
It doesn’t.
If they are allowed to get away with this there is no limit to what can be taxed for some so called “good cause”.
Better to be known as a sex addict than a greedy politition addicted to money.
A politition is lower than a street hooker.
Are you kidding? We pay a tax to be n our own property.
Politicians are artists when it comes to inventing ways to scam you out of your money.
Texas defends new $5-per-visitor strip club fee...
it must have taken a whole lot of boobs and asses must have come up with this tax!!!!
That would include illegal immigrants, wouldn't it? And it would follow that they would frequent these establishments...so in a way, they're helping.
Make it $20.
Strange for a state that is so pro-gun, and rightly so, to put such a punitive tax on racks. Just doesn’t make sense.
You know, if the government would just levy a $1000 tax for every time you masturbate, think of how many kitten lives would be saved!
Please government! Save the kittens!
Mark
“Gotta love Texas, they’re right there on the cutting edge of a brave new world.”
It seems states in the Southeast trend towards large and intrusive government even though they are “Red States.”
Unfortunately these kinds of fees and taxes are what RINOs running on “values” will give us. Kind of like Huckster.
I predict it will be a bust ... a real flop.
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