Lap dances don't rise to the level of art, but yet a community theatre company putting on a shitty rendition of Brigadoon for the 95th time does? Bullshit. Granted, some lap dances I personally give are less artsy-fartsy than others, but a dancer is an artist, athlete, actress, and businesswoman. I think we deserve at least a little credit through tax exemption. This ruling reeks of classism in addition to just being plain inconvenient. Additionally, it just goes to show that the men in charge in this godforsaken pit of despair we call New York are still somehow afraid of women's erotic power (as well as our bodies themselves). It's backward and unfair. Clearly none of these people understand the history of exotic dance; it is, and always has been, a performance.
God forbid somebody makes the mistake of letting me pass the bar exam in this state... all hell is going to break loose.
I don't think any of it is "art." I think it's sexual activity, perpetrated between consenting adults, and therefore should (morally speaking) be left alone by the government. I don't see how privacy and free expression relate at all. If it's expression, it's public; if it's private, then it's NOT public.
And if it's just free expression, well, in most of our states IF you charge a price for your expression the customer will more often than not pay some sort of tax. You can express yourself for free all you want and not have to collect any sales tax; or for tips only and just have to pay your income tax on those; but if Mr. A paid Ms. B a price certain to see/hear what she had to express, that exchange gets taxed unless specifically exempted.
I wonder if this will lead Assemblyman Ortiz to propose the "Pole Tax" again? ([view link]).
One way to avoid the $21.20 lapdance would be to make lap dances taxable through an excise, i.e. the tax is collected by carving out a slice from the final cash-out-of-pocket price, as opposed to tacking on an additional levy on top of it. But that would require upping the total final price, lest the dancer take a loss, and making sure the tax slice is NOT counted as income and thus double-taxed. Anyway how long have NY lapdances been $20? If NY is forced to go to $25-30 as the new standard this could create an uncomfortable cascade effect across the Land...
Ugh...the sales tax in that area of NY is 8%, and the LDs at Nite Moves were $25/song or $30/2 songs, for which the sales taxes will be an extra $2 or $2.40 respectively...which isn't that much money extra IMHO. That area of NY state is notorious for upfront tipping anyways. From the recent reviews for this place, the club has already upped their prices accordingly likely due to the increased state taxes. Some strip clubs in other areas of NY have asked in the past to be taxed for the purposes of local educational spending.
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