[Rhodes22-list] Was Squirrels, Now Just Squirrley

[Brad Haslett]

This started out as an innocent plea for help with uninvited guests and you
sick bastards turned it into something completely different.  However,
comma, since we're in the gutter, there are some side benefits.  Here's a
new idea from Florida.  Who says lust is bad? I can hear the spin already,
"really honey, I was just doing it to help out old people!"

Brad

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 The Gainesville Sun www.GainesvilleSun.com
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Feb 5, 2008
Measure would tax strip clubs

*By JOE FOLLICK*
Sun Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE - Going to a topless bar or paying for a personal escort service
could help nursing home residents afford haircuts or movie tickets if
lawmakers agree to an unusual new sales tax.

A proposed law, House Bill 751, would create a sales tax on "adult
entertainment services'' to provide nursing home residents and others more
spending cash.

Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg, said he was bothered by the low level
of the $35 monthly "personal allowance'' that low-income nursing home
residents receive from Medicaid.

That money must pay for everything not supplied by a facility, including
entertainment, haircuts and other costs.

Kriseman said the allowance has been stuck at $35 since the late 1980s. But
the current budget crunch for state government, facing a multi-billion
dollar drop in revenue, makes increasing the payments difficult.

So Kriseman and his staff decided that extending the sales tax to adult
entertainment would generate enough money to pay for doubling the allowance
to $70. The monthly payments also go to developmentally disabled and other
low-income residents in state-run facilities, including the state mental
hospital.

"People need to at least have a quality of life for the time they have
left,'' Kriseman said.

Despite a general reluctance among lawmakers to raise any tax, Kriseman said
opposing his plan will be difficult given the source and the beneficiaries.

"I'm sorry if I'm going to cost you the tip you were going to put in
somebody's garter,'' Kriseman said. "We're not taxing your lap dance. We're
taxing your admission'' for an adult entertainment service provider.

The bill defines those services to "include lingerie, bikini or nude
modeling; body shampoos or scrubs; private shower shows; peep shows; nude,
seminude or topless dancing; nude, seminude or topless waitressing; lap,
friction, couch or table dancing; erotic massages or performances; nude
photo sessions; and personal escort services.''

The bill had not been assigned a public hearing as of Monday. The
Legislature is considering bills now through the scheduled end of the annual
session on May 2.

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