By Jennifer Litz
Editor
December 27, 2007
“I’m a little confused by the whole idea,” Mike Davis, manager of The Maximus strip club in San Angelo, says. “ I haven’t been told anything about that yet, not even sure it’s been officially passed.”
It has. Texas Legislature House Bill 1751 passed earlier this year with help of sponsor Rep. Ellen Cohen, a Houston Democrat. It calls for an extra $5 charge for strip club patrons. Proceeds will go to State sexual assault programs.
Now that “D-Day” is upon them, many Texas strip club owners haven’t decided how to levy the tax on customers. Arthur Gaona, owner of The Maximus, which has locations in Abilene, Wichita Falls, San Angelo and Victoria, says he’s not sure how he’ll charge the $5 come New Year’s Day.
He is sure that he and several other concerened strip club owners are convening in Austin on Dec. 27 to discuss a suit that several parties are bringing against the State, including the owners of an Amarillo strip club, Gaona says. They claim that the tax is overly ambitious, and that it infringes on the First Amendment protected right to nude dancing. Many lawyers agree. But nothing has been decided in time to pass an injunction, so bar owners are required, in the meantime, to comply with the law.
“We tried to get a judge to hear it and stop that January 1 [date where we have to start collecting the fees], but he said that he couldn’t make a quick decision on it; it was a complex matter,” Gaona says.
A Good Cause
Bar patrons say it’s unfair. But proponents of the bill say that nude bars are a “robust” part of the Texas economy that is not already overtaxed. And the money for state rape relief programs has to come from somewhere…
Rep. Cohen has said that a female-dominated industry like strip clubs is a logical place to take funds that will largely help women.
Karen Amacker, Communications and Marketing Director for the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, says the bill is not a moral judgement on strip clubs. The TAASA worked with Cohen to mobilize support from the
“We need a long term sustainable revenue source,” Amacker says. “And the adult entertainment industry is that. It is [a] robust [part of the texas economy], and those funds will be there for a long long time to come. For us, it was an economical decision. [We don’t] want to tax something that’s already overtaxed. It’s a logical, sustainable [revenue source].
“During the session, we never said anything for or against strip clubs; our goal is not to put these books out of business. It’s to continue to have these funds come in. We can’t have funding if strip clubs close.”
…But Fair?
Besides the First Amendment complaints, some bar owners claim an extra $5 levied on cover charges could deter business, despite Amacker’s claim the TAASA wants them to stay in business. (The text of HB1751’s enrolled bill “does not require a sexually oriented business to impose a fee on a customer of the business.” It’s up to venue owners from where the extra $5 will derive.)
The enrolled bill also allows the money to fund some programs the secular-minded may find questionable, including “grants to faith-based groups, independent school districts, and community action organizations for programs for the prevention of sexual assault and programs for victims of human trafficking.”
Regardless, the tax is estimated to raise millions of dollars for State rape relief programs.
See the “pole tax” bill here.