More than 800 people showed up to dance at Century Ballroom’s Sweet 16 fundraiser on Saturday, helping the dance club reach the one-third mark of its $92,000 “opportunity to dance” tax owed to the state, according to owner Hallie Kuperman.
With $3,700 raised at the event, and an additional $3,300 donated during a memorial service Sunday for long-time Century Ballroom waltz teacher Susan Balshor, Kuperman says she’s overwhelmed by the community’s support.
“I think for the entire dance community it’s amazing to see people come together in this way,” Kuperman says. “Dance is usually seen as low on the totem pole and as a thing nobody cares about, and that is so not the case.
While other businesses and community members have reached out with donations and fundraising ideas, Kuperman says her main goal is to bring an end to the dance tax.
“When I heard about the tax I immediately thought it sounded like a storyline from a bad ‘80s film,” said Bobby Bonsey, a dancer and photographer who has taught flash mobs at Century Ballroom. “Taxing people to dance is ridiculous and will hurt out culture and communities who are primarily interested in improving communities and bettering peoples lives.”
An effort to end the tax in Olympia, SB 5613 is still in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means and doesn’t yet have a scheduled executive session required to move the bill forward. Kuperman says that the Washington State Arts Alliance is working to spread the word about how supporters can write their representatives in the committee to help move the bill forward. You can visit this Alliance site to add your voice in support of pushing the bill forward.
Kuperman said she hasn’t yet been notified of her tax bill due date, but it will likely be within the next couple months.
The standard Republican demand is that we reduce taxes. The standard Democratic demand is that people pay their taxes, yet a Democratic Senator is trying to repeal the tax. Weird…
It’s a retail sale folks, plain and simple. Many years ago the State deemed ALL entry fees to be a taxable item with the entrant as the end user. Sorry, but the tax IS due.
Because I like the Century, I sincerely hope Senator Murray can persuade his fellow Democrats to repeal the tax, or at least say that beginning say, 7/1/13 that the tax is due, none of this junk of retroactively collecting the tax. I also hope the Century is still around when the dust settles from the fight.
[…] being organized by Century Ballroom, which is still hoping to raise a remaining $25,000 toward its $90,000 dance tax bill, to support SB 5613 – the bill that will repeal the Opportunity to Dance […]
[…] being organized by Century Ballroom, which is still hoping to raise a remaining $25,000 toward its $90,000 dance tax bill, to support SB 5613 – the bill that will repeal the Opportunity to Dance […]
[…] won’t be getting a refund check anytime soon. Same deal with the Century Ballroom which successfully rallied supporters in a series of fundraisers to pay off some $90,000 Olympia said it […]