RALEIGH — I write a syndicated column on politics and public policy that often focuses on the issue of taxation. I am also a tap dance practitioner and teacher. Want to see these two seemingly distinct interests intersect? So feel free to continue reading.

John Hood

During the golden age of tapping in the 1930s and early 1940s, this quintessential American art form played an important role in pop culture. You could watch Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell and Fayard’s Brother and Harold Nicholas in the cinema.
Every town, at least modest in size, had thriving nightclubs featuring swinging big bands and, frequently, tap virtuosos. Traveling performers still plied their trade through the vast network of small-town theaters and halls once known as vaudeville. And because it was as much a form of percussive musical performance as it was dance, tap dancing could even be heard on commercially produced records and on radio’s top-rated variety shows.
The tap economy collapsed during and just after World War II. For a few lucky dancers like Astaire and Gene Kelly, cinema would support their tap careers for years to come. But for most – and especially for black performers whom predominantly white audiences would not yet accept as cinematic protagonists – making a decent living as a tap dancer in America has become almost impossible.
Some turned to teaching while occasionally earning a few dollars appearing on television variety shows in the 1950s. A few emigrated to Europe and continued to perform on stage. Others moved on to other roles in show business.
Consider one of the greatest duos in tap history, Honi Coles and Cholly Atkins. During the golden age of tap, they performed unrivaled routines with Cab Calloway, Count Basie and Louis Armstrong. In the early 1960s, Honi Coles worked as a production manager at the Apollo Theater. Cholly Atkins worked for Berry Gordy’s Motown, choreographing for musical groups such as the Supremes, the Temptations and the Four Tops. Each had rewarding second acts in their respective careers. But they should have been the headliners all along.
What ended the golden age of tap dancing?
As with most social phenomena, it was a complex event with multiple causes. The nightclub scene, which played such an important role in sustaining the big band and live dance economy, would likely have declined anyway, thanks to long-term changes in urban development, technology and consumer tastes. But historians of swing and tap music point to an immediate cause of the sharp decline of the mid-1940s: a federal excise tax.
Constantly seeking new sources of revenue, a wartime Congress imposed a “cabaret tax” in 1944. Specifically, any venue serving food and drink and presenting dance performances had to give up 30 percent. of its gross receipts to the federal government as excise. tax.
Upscale clubs in New York and other cities swallowed their objections, paid the excises, and raised prices for their patrons. But that was more than most markets could handle. To remain viable businesses, thousands of nightclubs have gotten rid of their floor shows and dance floors. Big bands evolved into jazz ensembles and trios. “There were fewer and fewer places for a tap dancer to dance,” observed Brian Seibert, dance critic for The New York Times and author of the essential tap history What the Eye Hears.
Under public pressure, Congress then reduced the excise tax to 20%, then to 10% in 1960, finally repealing it completely in 1965 (if you’re surprised that a “time of year” revenue measure war” has long survived the war in question, you probably are). (I’m not very familiar with the history of taxation.) But by then, the economic damage had already been done.
Fortunately, the faucet never completely disappeared. New generations have fallen in love with this art form and have renewed it, on Broadway and elsewhere. Tap has his legs back, again – no thanks to the IRS.

John Hood is a board member of the John Locke Foundation.