The Latest City Hall Sin Tax: The Lap Dance

First they came for your soda, then they came for your smokes, and now they’ve come for your … strippers? Yes, City Hall has slipped a tax in right under our horny noses, applying the city’s 5 percent amusement to the ancient art of the lap dance — and some area strip joints didn’t even know about it. In fact, Cheerleaders and Club Risque, two of the city’s biggest gentlemen’s clubs, owe $486,482 and $320,538, respectively. Now that’s a lot of writhing, sure, but the six-figure sums are mostly the result of the city’s assessing the tax retroactively for five years on each club, a measure that is currently being appealed. After all, you wouldn’t expect strippers to take this lying down. [Philly.com]