ALBANY – Strip clubs must pay a few extra dollars on their lap dances, a New York court ruled.
A state appeals court rejected the notion that lap dances are a kind of performance art — and must be taxed accordingly.
Nite Moves, an upstate strip club, issued an appeal to the 1965 law that requires club owners to tax private dances, bringing in experts to testify that their establishments provide “dramatic or musical arts performances.”
The court argued that strippers require no formal training and do not compare to tax-exempt performers of ballet.
An 8.875 percent tax would cost clubs about $2 on a $20 dance, and some owners are saying they will have to raise prices to accommodate the law.
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