Two Georgetown hookah bars shut down due to unpaid taxes
Posted by: Juliana Brint in News, Vox Populi, tags: Georgetown, Georgetown Businesses, Hookah, Office of Tax and Revenue, Prince Cafe, Prince of Georgetown, TaxesTwo Georgetown-area hookah bars—Prince of Georgetown, located at 3205 Prospect Street, and Prince Café, located at 1042 Wisconsin Avenue—were shut down by the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue on Wednesday due to unpaid sales taxes.
The closures were part of a larger push by OTR to investigate businesses that are not remitting the sales taxes they collect from patrons. The hookah bars and six other D.C. restaurants (including one other Georgetown establishment, Mendocino Grille at 2917 M Street) had their sales tax certificates revoked, meaning they are no longer able to make food or beverage sales, according to a press release from OTR.
According to the press release:
OTR made numerous attempts to collect the outstanding taxes from the establishments without success. When the owners failed to respond to multiple collection notices, OTR was forced to revoke their sales tax certificates.
If the businesses continue not to pay their sales taxes, they could face seizures and bank levies.
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Good riddance! While many an early hookah session was held at the Prospect St location, they were really the worst place I’ve been. A little item on their menu read “prices subject to change” and a small sign on the register “$10 per person minimum”, and Prince was famous for charging whatever they felt they could get out of you. This typically included things like an $8 sitting fee/cover charge, $5 new coal fee, and other mysterious items on your bill that I bet they didn’t think they had to pay taxes on.
Yeah, those people at Prince Cafe were crooks. They didn’t give out free tap water, claiming that it wasn’t safe. Assholes.