One council member wants to make sure Cleveland keeps its rock and roll legacy by supporting independent venues in the city.
The new proposal would eliminate the city’s 4% admissions tax for small, locally run music venues with capacity under 750 people.
Kris Harsh, who represents the West Side’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood, said the tax exemption could help offset losses to venues struggling to recover since the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as shifting trends in young people’s alcohol consumption.
“I don’t know that this is going to solve all those problems, but I think it’s going to relieve some pressure financially on these places,” Harsh said.
The law would benefit spots like the Happy Dog, a hot dog joint and music venue in Detroit Shoreway. Owner Sean Watterson said that would mean between $4,000 and $5,000 back to his business every year.
“People may say, ‘Oh, it was the consumer that pays the tax.’ Except at Happy Dog, it’s a $10 cover, and we give the bands a 100% of the door sales,” Watteron said. “We’re not charging $10.40. So we end up paying that admissions tax out of our hot dog and beer sales.”
A study from the National Independent Venue Association found Cleveland’s independent venues generate $1.17 billion in annual economic output for Cuyahoga County, but three-quarters of those venues lost money in 2024.
“The local music venues in Cleveland do so much to support the arts and culture scene here in town,” Harsh said. “And I just didn’t see the reason to stress them out with this added tax burden, especially when the city was more than happy to let the Browns walk and the millions of dollars that come from their ticket tax every year.”
The city first imposed a 6% admissions tax in the 1970s before boosting it to 8% in 1995 to help fund construction of the city-owned Browns stadium downtown. In 2012, the city amended the tax: venues under a capacity of 150 became exempt and those with a capacity between 150 and 750 were charged 4%.
Watterson said that “compromise” is still hurting businesses’ bottom lines.
“The amount of money that the city’s collecting from these venues is relatively small, but for each of the venues that are paying that tax, it’s incredibly important when your margins are super tight or when you’re either side of break even,” Watterson said.
Harsh said the money the city generates from the tax is a “drop in the bucket” and will do more good circulating in city neighborhoods.
“I’m a legislator; I want the city to raise money so that we can put it back in the neighborhoods,” Harsh said. “But I think this is money that comes out of the neighborhoods, it doesn’t really go back into the neighborhoods in any meaningful way. So letting them keep this money in the neighborhood I think is a better deal for the people of Cleveland than collecting it and trying to redistribute it later.”
Larger venues host more than 750 people will still be subject to the 8% admissions tax. The state imposes a 10% cap on municipalities charging admission tax.
Harsh introduced the legislation at Monday night’s meeting. Other council members, including near West Side representative Austin Davis and East Side’s Kevin Conwell, expressed support for the proposal, which was referred for a committee hearing before approval.
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