Results tagged “felixortiz”

That expensive cocktail may get more expensive: State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D-Bronx) is proposing a tax on alcohol. NY1 reports that Oritz argues "most of the funds generated through the new tax would be used for alcohol and drug abuse treatment and education programs around the state" (those programs face cuts with the proposed budget). Previously, Ortiz has suggested banning alcohol ads on MTA properties, taxing strip clubs, and grading kids' weights.

State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, a Brooklyn Democrat, is still pushing hard for a special tax on strip clubs, which he says would raise money to help victims of human trafficking. When Ortiz first proposed the tax last year, he also floated the idea of requiring strippers to purchase licenses before they could legally dance erotically. There's no mention of licensing in today's AP article, which reports only that Ortiz would like to levy a statewide, $10 tax on patrons of nude and seminude dance clubs and strip bars. Ortiz argues that the tax would generate plenty of desperately-needed dollar bills for sex trafficking victims at a time when there's no money in the budget to assist them. The bill doesn't have a Senate sponsor yet, but if it passes, strip club owners will probably just dodge the tax by moving their operations to bicycles.