At an administrative hearing Monday morning, a Cook County official doubled down on a controversial position that the Reader first reported on last week: she explained to attorneys for two Chicago venues that live performances of rock, country, rap, and electronic music do not constitute “music” or “culture” by the county’s standards.
County code stipulates that venues with a capacity of 750 or fewer are not subject to the tax as long as any cover charges or admission fees are for “in person, live theatrical, live musical or other live cultural performances.” A separate section of the code defines live music and live cultural performances as “any of the disciplines which are commonly regarded as part of the fine arts, such as live theater, music, opera, drama, comedy, ballet, modern or traditional dance, and book or poetry readings.”
“Your argument is honestly a stretch,” Richardson countered. “I’m going to be looking for some rather persuasive legal arguments that will persuade me . . . that all music falls within the category of any of the disciplines regarded as fine arts.”
He said he’s never paid amusement taxes for either venue in the six years since Beauty Bar opened or at any point in the quarter-century history of the Empty Bottle.
He says the venues are making “a very compelling argument” that they are exempt from this particular tax—and that this legal debate flies in the face of what the county ought to be doing to foster creative and economic growth in the city. “Personally, I think we need things to incentivize musical talent and venues that present it, rather than make life more difficult for them,” Fritchey says.
