Posted on 03/25/2010 2:20:08 PM PDT by Ready4Freddy
SAN ANTONIO - The Texas Supreme Court is deciding whether to strip away a $5 entrance fee to watch nude dancers.
The court heard arguments Thursday about whether the so-called pole tax, a fee mandated by lawmakers in 2007, is unconstitutional.
Texas has so far collected more than $13.6 million from the fee. But many clubs have ignored the law, which is intended to fund programs for sexual assault victims.
The Texas Entertainment Association, which represents strip clubs across the state, sued to block the fee. Lower courts have sided with the clubs.
Justices questioned both sides at length. Talk about strippers engaging in free expression was balanced by rebuttals about tax and zoning precedents. It will likely be months before the Supreme Court rules.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
they only tax the polish????
We don’t even have topless clubs in Houston no more. They require pasties (so I hear) in the land that invented plastic “enhancements”.
Das Racis!
I thought they outlawed poll taxes long ago....
One of the Polish gentlemen has ED. His doctor told him to take Viagra and go to the club. Does 0bamacare pay for his Viagra and pole tax?
It was cases like this which led the Canadian Supreme Court to rule that taking off all of your clothes and dancing was a form of protected free speech. Hence the Windsor Ballet.
TTIWWOP!
Obamacare will pay for Viagra if he’s in prison.
No fan of strip clubs; but any legislature that would pass this kind of tax is not a conservative.
Taxes are not about punishing behavior.
Taxes are about paying for government; they should be fair and impartial as possible.
Hence the Windsor Ballet.
Thank you for bringing up some pleasant memories...
>>Taxes are not about punishing behavior.
>Taxes are about paying for government; they should be fair and impartial as possible.
Tell it to the smokers, in many parts of the country 2/3rd’s of the retail price of a cigarette pack is taxes.
If it’s good enough for smokers, it’s fine for strip club habitues.
In upper Wisconsin and Michigan, pasties are delicious.
Anna Nicole Smith's life would have turned out quite differently had this been the case way back when.
Long before this, they took all the fun (and profit) out of these establishments. The girl now dances for you while you watch in the next county. There’s no touching, even hand-to-hand or a post-dance thank you hug. There’s no “lap” to lap dancing anymore. It’s become more like a Baptist social.
I don’t know how desperate somebody needs to be to spend a $5 government fee just to watch some chick dance from across the room.
I don’t think cig taxes are fair, either. Beer, either.
Taxes are for revenue, not Mother Government causing us to behave in a given manner.
The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.
Commendable sentiments, sir, but archaic in our age.
In MA, we got a sales tax on alcohol sales despite the existing excise.
Not quite like tobacco taxes for behavior modification, but simply an untapped revenue stream.
The strip joint entry tax is kind of creative, you have to admit. Next a fast food eatery entry fee?
Sounds like need for a Texas Constiutional amendment.
Only if he is a registered sex offender...
There’s got to be a joke in there somewhere...Just gotta be...
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