image via google
Albany strip club Nite Moves challenged a 2005 audit by claiming that lap dances were exempt from taxation, just as ballet performances are (I wrote about some of the sillier commentary inspired by the case). Their appeal wound up in front of the New York Court of Appeals, and today they ruled against the club, 4-3. From the decision*:
Clearly, it is not irrational for the Tax Tribunal to decline to extend a tax exemption to every act that declares itself a “dance performance.” If ice shows presenting pairs ice dancing performances, with intricately choreographed dance moves precisely arranged to musical compositions, were not viewed by the Legislature as “dance” entitled a tax exemption, surely it was not irrational for the Tax Tribunal to conclude that a club presenting performances by women gyrating on a pole to music, however artistic or athletic their practiced moves are, was also not a qualifying performance entitled to exempt status. To do so would allow the exemption to swallow the general tax since many other forms of entertainment not specifically listed in the regulation will claim their performances contain tax-exempt rehearsed, planned or choreographed activity.
[READ MORE]
Happy Tax Day! I don’t know why we got an extra day after Sunday to file, but it’s not like it made a difference for me, because I thankfully have an accountant handling my mess. If you are a sex worker who is maybe confused about how to handle filing, how to determine if you’re an employee or self-employed, or why you should file at all if you’re paid entirely in cash, please look at our post from last year, “Five Reasons Sex Workers File Their Damn Taxes.”
Melissa Gira Grant spoke to Buzzfeed about sex workers and taxes.
We’ve had a series of posts about how strip club owners have been tripped up by failing to pay their damn taxes.
Here’s a post by Story about her helpful accountant.
And here’s one I wrote about my own tax issues.
You might like to check out the Tax Domme, who is very knowledgeable about the industry.
Strip and Grow Rich also provides helpful tax advice for strippers.
If you’re on the fence about filing or nervous because you haven’t filed in the past, it’s really not as scary as you think. And it’s definitely better to deal with it yourself than to be made to deal with it down the road. Please feel free to post any tax-related questions in the comments and we’ll be happy to give you our (totally not professional and completely informal because we are not tax professionals et cetera) thoughts.
dressing room of an Austin strip club, sent from a reader
A Ron Paul supporter turned to the Austin Chronicle to solicit dirt on opposing presidential candidate Rick Perry. Seeking to expose Perry’s family values platform as hypocritical, Paul supporter Robert Morrow specifically asked strippers and escorts to come forward.
SocialiteLife.com published an interview with former Jesse James mistress/stripper/model/alleged white supremacist Michelle “Bombshell” McGee.
Gender Across Borders is looking for contributions for an upcoming series on stigma, shame, and sexuality.
Shocker: Yet another police officer has been arrested for extorting sex from a prostitute.
PDX Stone of The Other Side of the Rail (a great customer perspective blog), wrote a piece on how to date a stripper. The opening lines: “You can’t. Just quit right now.”
Mattel accidentally (we hope) advertised a phone-sex line on a toy tow truck. Whatever you do, do NOT call 1-800-FAST-TOW.
Jodi Hoskins, former office manager of a Salt Lake City escort service, lost an appeal of her tax evasion conviction. She was sentenced to three years in prison. Psst, pay your taxes.
GoDaddy is cashing in on the new .xxx domain names, charging up to 17 times the price of a standard .com domain name, as predicted by Trixie in a MarchTits and Sass piece. [READ MORE]
Rick Rizzolo blows all the other tax-evading strip club owners of America out of the water. Not only did he lose a strip club valued at $35 million at the time of its seizure, but he flagrantly violated his parole, maintained offshore accounts, and failed to pay the damages he owed a man paralyzed at the hands of CH2 security. Titanium balls, this guy has. Last month, a judge sent the former Crazy Horse Too owner back to jail. Rizzolo’s Mercedes was seized and his stepmother is being sued.
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Back in May, two clubs in Portland, OR were investigated for tax fraud by undercover federal agents (for at least one of those clubowners, tax evasion might be the least of his worries). Now similar news comes from Queens, where Robert Potenza—owner of the excellently named Gallagher’s 2000—has been in court explaining how difficult it is to keep up with all that pesky strip club cash.
The club is awash in cash, with typically $400,000 on-hand, some stashed in a broken refrigerator, a fishing tackle box or atop a metal beam. [READ MORE]
