Oslo - (Ass. Mess): It took five senior Norwegian Appeals judges approximately one hundred hours each of in-situ evidence taking to decide that striptease is an art-form and thus zero-rated for taxation purposes.
So painstaking was their commitment to impartial testimony that they had to be prized away eventually from the Oslo Peppermint Rhinoceros Go-Go Club where their dedication to judicial thoroughness was severely tested.
In their adjudication the judges concluded that striptease was a performance art just like snake-handling, fire-breathing, sword-swallowing or orating in the nation's Parliament and therefore non-taxable according to the country's favorable arts-exemption legislation.
After the ground-breaking class action, one of the more elderly judges had to be treated for eye-strain while another is still under observation at his local A & E clinic after developing curious swellings in his nether regions.
The victory signals a revival of the national art-form which is often accompanied by celebratory two-finger gestures in the direction of Revenue officers who regularly conduct inspections at licensed premises as part of on-going research projects.
