Texas Taxes Strip Joints

Texas plans to begin imposing a $5-per-customer fee at strip clubs across the state starting in the New Year, in what some are referring to as a "pole tax."

The state intends to use the money to fund rape crisis centers. But strip club owners are worried that the plan unfairly links their businesses to sex crimes and imposes a punitive tax on their industry, according to the Associated Press.

The state hopes to raise over $40 million per year with the tax. Club owners will probably start hiking cover charges or the cost of drinks to make up for the extra fees.

But a group of club owners has filed suit to block the new law, which the state legislature approved in May. They say it interferes with the dancers' constitutional right of freedom of expression.

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