And you thought strip club cover charges were already expensive!
The guy pictured above who looks like he's spent some time on perverts row is Oklahoma lawmaker Randy Randleman. He's the author of House Bill 2931. Dubbed the Oklahoma Titty Tax Act, it will require strip clubs, cabarets and any other place where people go to see other people dance topless under black lights to pay the Oklahoma Tax Commission $5 for every patron who enters their premises.
Here are some of the details via McAlester News:
An Oklahoma lawmaker filed a bill to establish a fund to combat human trafficking with money obtained through fees charged for the number of patrons of live adult entertainment establishments in Oklahoma.
District 15 State Representative Randy Randleman filed House Bill 2931 that would create the Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Revolving Fund.
The bill would require live adult entertainment establishments in the state to record daily the number of customers admitted to the business and would require a $5 “admission fee” for each customer paid by the establishment to the Oklahoma Tax Commission.
Listen, I'm not going to be naive and pretend that sex trafficking isn't a real issue that shouldn't be addressed. I'm also not going to turn a blind eye to the fact some "strip clubs" are basically fronts for brothels and sex traffickers, but imposing a $5 tax on anyone and everyone who visits a strip club is a stupid idea. It's arbitrary, unfair and would decimate the local bachelor party industry. It would kind of be like charging a $5 tax on everyone who goes to church in order to help prevent and combat child sex abuse. It doesn't make sense.
If Randleman really wanted to raise funds, he should have a more targeted and nuanced approach. You know, maybe include a fee on lap dances or place an excise tax on all funds gained through DJ blender tip jars. Another idea would be to convert SE 59th through Valley Brook into a toll road. Oklahoma's already a Top 10 State for turnpikes, so I doubt anyone would complain.
In addition to taxing strip clubs, the bill would also require computers, phones and any other device that has access to the Internet to come with pre-installed filters that would prevent people from accessing all porn sites:
The bill will also require retailers selling internet-enabled devices to equip internet filters on all devices sold in the state of Oklahoma with a $20 fee required to remove the filters from the device by the consumer.
According to the proposed bill, the filter would block by default websites that are known to facilitate human trafficking or prostitution, display child and revenge porn or obscene material harmful to minors.
Once again, he's taking a hammer to an issue that involves a scalpel. Sure, it would raise prices on devices, but I wouldn't have a problem with filters the prevent people from accessing child and revenge porn, but then again, it would probably be weird to see a "Child and Revenge Porn Filter Removal $20" sign at a phone repair kiosk at the mall.
Anyway, you can read the full bill here. Knowing what we know about Oklahoma lawmakers and their deviant desires, I doubt it has a chance to pass, but then again, they're also hypocrites, so who the hell knows.
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