Philadelphia to Tax Lap Dances for Amusement Revenue

Club Risque is just one of the Philadelphia strip clubs now being dealt with a lap dance tax.

As if taxes weren’t high enough, the city of Philadelphia wants to tax your lap dances, too, reports Bloomberg.

Philadelphia levies a five percent tax to any “amusemement” in the city, such as concerts, movies and entrance fees. Documents show that Philadelphia earned $21.9 million in those taxes in the fiscal year that ended in July 2012. Now, officials are now arguing that lap dances are “distinct amusements.”

The city is already trying to collect these unpaid taxes from two of Philadelphia’s most popular strip clubs, seeking principal, interest and penalties over three years. Club Risque was slammed with a $320,540 bill covering lap dances performed and Cheerleaders got a whopping $486,483 charge.

George Bochetto, a Philadelphia lawyer representing the two clubs, says the tax isn’t fair and that a lap dance does not constitute a separate amusement.

“The city started saying, ‘OK, we need more money, and here, maybe, is a way we can scare up some more money without having to raise anybody’s taxes’,” Bochetto said.