Its so unfair, its an abridgment to their First Amendment constitutional right of freedom of expression. NOT.
They may have the right and freedom to "self-express" but you don't have a first amendment right to watch.
Wait, didn't they do away with the poll tax?
Sorry pal, wrong pole, pay up.Topless clubs plan to fight new tax
Karen Grace KENS 5 Eyewitness News
A San Antonio strip club is ready to join the fight to get a new $5 topless tax tossed out.
The new surcharge went into effect Jan. 1, and clubs are already saying it’s bad for business.
The tax is being called the “pole tax,” and every customer has to pay $5 before they get a peek. Now club owners want them to complain to lawmakers.
Before the lights, the stage, the seduction, strip club customers must now pay the state.
“I don’t think it’s fair, really,” Mike Turner said. “I gotta pay extra money to visit with my friend.”
“If I was at a country bar, this wouldn’t be a problem at all,” Palace Men’s Club manager John Maldonado said.
He said patrons are not happy about House Bill 1751. It’s expected to generate $44 million in funding for rape prevention programs, and all out of strip club patrons’ pockets.
“If they quit trying to ban them, and if they can make money of it, yeah I guess it’s a better thing, because I don’t go, so I don’t want to get taxed for it,” Leroy Benson said.
But the Texas Entertainment Association is asking why the state is targeting the strip club business, and Palace is uniting with other clubs to block the fee.
“It’s not going to stop anybody,” Turner said. “It’s just like with the cigarette taxes.”
So far a judge has blocked a request to block the fee, but it could still go to trial.
