AUSTIN, TX — Never let it be said that the state of Texas has let a little thing like the Constitution stand in its way of squeezing guilt-money out of the adult entertainment industry. After being assured that the state’s attempts to install a so-called strip club “pole tax” are unconstitutional, the Texas Solicitor General has begged the state Supreme Court to reverse the lower court decision. Having tasted defeat at the hands of the Third Court of Appeals, James Ho, the state’s chief appellate attorney, has petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of the $5 per person strip club attendee adult entertainment fee. Alas for those who hope to fatten the state’s scrawny coffers with strip club money, the fee has been tied up in court since 2007. Funds collected have been earmarked for low-income health insurance and sexual assault prevention, two social ills that presumably have something to do with strip clubs and therefore should be solved by them.
Although legislators attempted to tweak the fee during the last session, they were unable to convert it into a constitutional money grab.
Joining Ho in his appeal to the Texas Supreme Court are lawyers for both Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot and state Comptroller Susan Combs, who want access to the more than $12 million already collected and leverage to extract the fee from clubs that failed to collect it during its ongoing legal battles.
Standing in their way is the Texas Entertainment Association, which took the matter to both a state district court, which ruled against the fee in 2008, and then again to the 3rd Court of Appeals, which sustained the lower court ruling last week. According to the latter ruling, the tax improperly singles out nude dancing, which is a protected form of expression.
As far as the state is concerned, it believes it can install the fee because only clubs that sell alcohol and offer nude entertainment would be affected. Club owners have logically responded by pointing out that the only alcohol serving clubs being assessed a fee are those that that also offer nude entertainment.
Adding fuel to the fire is the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault’s insistence the there is a proven and measurable link between live nude entertainment, the consumption of alcohol and sexual violence. Therefore, it feels entitled to revenue collected from clubs that offer both alcohol and nude dancers.
