IL 'Skin Tax' Passed to Help Fund Rape Crisis Centers
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has passed a unique tax that will help provide much-needed funding for rape crisis centers. The tax will be placed on strip clubs with the hope of raising up to $1 million per year.
The Sexual Assault Services and Prevention Fund was recently signed into law by Quinn after unanimously passing the senate in May. The fund will help with building and managing new rape crisis centers through its unique tax on strip clubs. Owners will be forced to pay a $3 tax for each patron starting on Jan. 1, 2013.
"I think in the end, everyone negotiated in good faith," Senator Toi Hutchinson told Good Morning America. "The one thing we all agreed on was these services needed funding. As long as that was the overriding goal, we could concentrate where the money was going."
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Illinois currently has over 30 rape crisis centers, each with 20 satellite offices throughout the state. Due to budget deficits, state-operated agencies have suffered and been forced to downsize. The new tax, however, will combat or at least help ease some of the pressure put on rape crisis centers.
"This law is a victory for rape victims and the dedicated rape crisis centers who work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in communities across the state of Illinois to provide supportive, caring services to survivors of sexual assault," explained Polly Poskin, executive director of the Coalition Against Sexual Assault. "They will benefit from this innovative and important funding stream."
Of course, there is some opposition to the new tax, which will raise the cost of admittance for club patrons and the expenses of owners. The Chicago Admiral Theater is "strongly opposed to the proposed pole tax," Sam Cecola, director of the club's operations, told The Chicago Tribune.
Hutchinson, however, sees it as a victory.
"I was proud of the fact that we were able to have a conversation that was difficult but necessary. It's easy to make jokes, but there is nothing about this that is funny," said the senator.
