The City of Philadelphia has a tax on amusements; it’s a 5% sales tax. Are lap dances performed at adult entertainment facilities subject to that tax? A court in Pennsylvania ruled no.
Philadelphia billed three strip clubs adult entertainment facilities $1.5 million for the tax, penalties, and interest covering 2008 – 2010. The three clubs appealed to Philadelphia’s Tax Review Board that the tax was vague and couldn’t be applied to lap dances. Philadelphia lost at the Board and appealed to court.
The court ruled that the Board was correct and the tax can’t be applied on lap dances.
“The ruling is simply that the (tax) ordinance, as it exists, as it’s currently worded, doesn’t cover lap dances,” says attorney George Bochetto…, who represents two of the three clubs that were being taxed. “If the city wants to tax lap dances, they can go to City Council, ask City Council to amend the ordinance, and they can start imposing a tax on lap dances. Or anything else they want: karaoke songs, piano playing. Anything they want. But you have to put it in the ordinance. You just can’t make it up as you go along.”
The city can appeal the decision and must make a decision within one month.
