For the dollar-wielding punters currently sitting bemused at strip joints around the country, ‘art’ is unlikely to be the first thought that comes to mind. Which is why a state court has swiftly thrown out one ambitious lap dancing club’s audacious attempt at dodging paying their taxes.The Nite Moves strip joint in Albany, New York, had attempted to get out of paying sales tax by arguing it was providing ‘artistic expression’, which would have exempted it from the charge.
But a unanimous ruling on Thursday by the Appellate Division Third Department quickly put an end to any hopes of a victory for the club.Nite Moves, which claims to be an adult ‘juice bar’ {ie a full nude no alcohol establishment}, on Route 9 in Latham offers punters ‘exotic dances performed by women in various stages of undress’.
It has been fighting the tax law after a 2005 audit that billed the company for almost £125,000 in sales tax, on top of interest for door admission receipts and sales of private dances.The company that owns the bar, 677 New Loudon Corporation, had contended that the dances ‘both on stage and in the private rooms qualified as dramatic or musical arts performances’.
It had brought to court a cultural anthropologist as an expert witness, who had claimed ‘the presentations at Nite Moves are unequivocally live dramatic choreographic performances’, according to Times Union.But Associate Justice John Egan Junior cited numerous elements of tax case law to determine whether Nite Moves would qualified as a ‘place of amusement’.’Hence, the issue distils to whether the club’s admission and private dance fees constitute charges for admission to a “live dramatic, choreographic or musical performance,”‘ he wrote.
It was determined by the five member court that the performances were not art because dancers had no formal training and learned their craft through experience alone or by watching videos.Nite Moves’s lawyer, Andrew McCullough, said it would challenge the ruling at New York’s highest tribunal, the state Court of Appeals.
‘This is a free speech issue. The state doesn’t get to be dance critic,’ he told the New York Post.
Author: Saxon
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