Strip Club Tax? Illinois Considers Adding Per-Customer Fine To Fund Women's Crisis Centers

Walking through the door of a strip club in Illinois is about to get a little more expensive if state Sen. Toi Hutchinson gets her way.

The Olympia Fields, Ill. Democrat filed a motion in Springfield earlier this month that would add an extra $5 tax per customer at strip clubs across the state, WPSD Local reports. Hutchinson proposes the money be used to support under-funded sexual assault resource centers, like The Women's Center in Carbondale, whose budgets have been slashed as state funds disappear.

“If you're going to sell sex and alcohol, then bad things sometimes happen," Hutchinson told the Quincy Journal, adding that she has nothing against strip clubs and topless bars. "I'm hopeful they'll work with me to take some of the stink off their name."

Club owners have come down hard against the tax, which they say could put smaller establishments out of business, turning out their large staffs that include dancers, bartenders, valet attendants and bouncers at a time when job insecurity is high, the Chicago Tribune reports.

"I think $5 is an absolute industry killer," Chicago club lobbyist Al Ronan, a former lawmaker, told the Tribune. "At some point, we're going to try to come in with an alternative plan...We're not out to kill it. We're out to do it right."

A nearly identical tax imposed in Texas in 2007 cleared a test of constitutionality in August after club owners challenged it as a violation of the First Amendment. Attorney James Ho called the ruling "a big win for victims of sexual assault."

This isn't the first time a Illinois has considered a tax on adult products and services. Former House Speaker Lee Daniels, (R-Elmhurst) proposed a tax on pornographic magazines to raise money for schools in 1997, according to the Pantagraph. But the measure went nowhere.

Coordinator Megan Jones-Williams told WPSD funding women's crisis center services with a tax from strip clubs makes sense.

"Sexually-oriented businesses are contributing to the environment that allows violence against women to occur," she told the station.

Comments

[1Edward]

09:44 AM on 03/08/2012

I am sure that a lot of people are not paying attention to this and that is the crime the Tax man is sticking his hand into your pocket again and once he gets it in there you will never get it out. Why haven't they taxed the Alcohol used in strip clubs? That lobby would bury them that is why! These TAX their people representatives need to get taxed on being bad at the job they do,use of a club as a reason for bad law enforcement is NOT a good reason to start taxing everyone. Listen to the song "The Taxman " and say STOP TAXING MY FREEDOM TO ENJOY THE WORLD.

[heliumguy]

08:59 PM on 03/07/2012

TAX, TAX, TAX, Politicians probably spend half of lives trying to figure out a way to tax more things. You can bet that they are trying to figure out a way to tax the Internet. We pay 20% tax on our cell phones!!!! Give me a break! Look at your phone bills closely. I don't trust a single politcian in the world.

[Kojak007]

02:46 PM on 02/18/2012

I'm all for promoting women's health but this particular means of collecting the funds to support it seems questionable. If these clubs are to be taxed then I'm thrilled that the money goes to these women's organizations but I feel that it is unethical to tax something just because you don't find it morally acceptable. We get the same thing with cigarettes and alcohol. Some people don't like them...so they tax them. I feel that this is dangerous.

www.currentlychicago.com

[trron9]

08:52 PM on 02/17/2012

I don't know much about strip clubs as it's never really been my thing, is there a door fee? $5.00 seems like a hefty tax? As far as using the money to fund women crisis centers does that mean liquor sales should fund AA meetings? Junk food sales should fund weight loss programs? Is it fair to single out a specific type of business or trade?

[mcartri]

02:48 PM on 02/17/2012

Will coal miners now be charged for entering a strip mine?

[realist79]

04:14 PM on 02/17/2012

NO! They will be shot on site because obama doesn't like coal.

[mcartri]

05:18 PM on 02/17/2012

R79, which "Site"...strip club or strip mine?

[GeniusInTheory]

10:58 AM on 02/17/2012

I really got a kick out of the State Senator Toi Hutchinson's little doublespeak:

I have nothing against the clubs but they need to get the 'stink' out of their name?

Their name stinks but she supports em

[Napoleon3]

10:55 AM on 02/17/2012

This is just lazy governing. Typical politician will tax these industries And also they will shift budgets away from education to show that taxes need to be raised to fill the education gap that was artificially created. Oh and of course it's all the rich persons fault.

[7dr361]

10:37 AM on 02/17/2012

Tax them all you want........I've never gone to a strip club..........

[realist79]

04:16 PM on 02/17/2012

I think they should tax pilots $100 every time they want to fly a plane, I've never flown one.

[henrypapillon]

10:36 AM on 02/17/2012

They should put a tax on churches for all the bad things they have done to women.

[Primesuspect]

10:33 AM on 02/17/2012

Smart idea. If people can afford to visit these clubs and drink, they can afford a small tax - especially for a good cause. But it's Illinois - so it probably won't happen. Most politicians like to do things that sound good but back down.

I suggest a double price on the SI swimsuit issue - send extra profits to rape crisis centers - if it's going to be so publicly displayed in family stores. Before everyone yells, you have to be a parent to get this. The cover is inappropriate because of the nature of the pose. The girls get yonger every year, and this one has a nasty little expression. Other than a convent, people need to have some places that are off limits for unsavory sex-and violence-oriented materials always in our faces.

[Antidiot]

01:45 PM on 02/17/2012

Are you serious? I'm a parent and if any one of my daughters was on the cover of SI (swimsuit issue or any other issue) or on the cover of any magazine for anything positive I would be very proud of them. Do you actually find women in bathing suits offensive? What are you talking about "yonger" (I assume younger?) I have yet to see a woman on the cover that is not a fully legal adult? Isn't the one that is currently gracing the cover some sort of athlete? (which makes it that much MORE cool) maybe you should go live in a convent since that's what kind of sensibilities you have.

[Primesuspect]

02:42 PM on 02/17/2012

Thanks, yes, I do have some sensibilities. BTW, thanks for taking time out from the reality show you have with your daughters to respond.

[arch1950]

10:27 AM on 02/17/2012

Our inventive Mayor soon may start taxing local murders and robberries, even at some point tax the air we breathe, instead of really cleaning his administration from corruption and making it work efficiently.

[ejhickey2]

10:24 AM on 02/17/2012

everyone has to have some skin in the game

[Taylor123]

10:17 AM on 02/17/2012

Taxes on Tobacco and Alcohol are permissible because those substances have measurable secondary costs to society. They can be directly linked to billions in health care costs and hundreds of thousands of deaths a year.

I'm not sure the scientific link between strip clubs and intersex violence has been established.

[realist79]

04:17 PM on 02/17/2012

I am. It HASN'T.

[Durandus]

10:13 AM on 02/17/2012

Yeah, right! Illinois is just looking for a way to raise taxes and think this will fly because it targets what can be sold as 'sinners.' They have no intention of using the tax for purposes described...once in their state coffers it will be immediately channeled to the General Fund and used for purposes quite other than being sold here. They do it with the Tobacco settlement, they do it with our Social Security Trust Fund, they'll do it here...Bait and Switch...Politicians are nothing but used car salesmen...and that's an insult to used car salesmen!

[Antidiot]

01:46 PM on 02/17/2012

Exactly, go after the "others". It works every time.

[probo]

10:11 AM on 02/17/2012

Alcohol has more to do with abuse than this. Maybe we should consider more tax on that.

[John Bobrowski]

01:24 PM on 02/17/2012

I agree --with assessing costs. I disagree with characterizing these charges as a "fine". Instead, perhaps they should be structured as an additional sates tax -- such as those in place to fund downtown development authorities and entertainment districts.

I can't find the link now, but a study correlates domestic violence reports with the number and proximity of establishments serving alcohol.