The OC Register is reporting that the Unofficial Bats Day is eliminating most events and will be dramatically scaled back following this year’s installment. The unofficial gathering of “goths” at Disneyland Park has grown over the past 20 years, but organizers are saying that changes in the tax law is forcing them to cancel most events in the future.
What is Bats Day:
Bats Day in the Fun Park, was started in August 1999 between the promoters of the goth/industrial & deathrock clubs, Absynthe and Release the Bats, and began as a meet-up inside the park. It had grown into a 3 day festival.
What the Organizers are Saying:
Due to the new 2018 tax plan, the struggling economy and ever-rising costs, we can no longer run Bats Day in the Fun Park on the grand scale that it has had for the past 15 years. What most people don’t realize is that Bats Day is a labor of love; we don’t make money on it. Bats Day has never had any corporate funding or sponsorship, either: It is an event we do for the community. It is something our crew donates varying amounts of time and energy toward without seeing any kind of pay or profit from it. Many people have held the erroneous belief that Bats Day gets a cut of ticket sales from people coming to the Disneyland trip for Bats Day, but that’s far from the truth. In fact, our funding comes from the events we hold outside of the Disneyland trip, and now that funding is in serious jeopardy. And for the past four years, Bats Day has had to pay the expenses for all the group photos in front of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, the Sword in the Stone and the Haunted Mansion. What has kept us afloat has been the deductions on the event’s taxes.
Sadly, that will no longer be possible: The new tax laws going into effect in 2018 (and impacting every American’s returns when they’re filed in 2019) no longer allow small businesses to deduct anything from their taxes—and Bats Day would also be taxed on any money that comes into the event before anything gets paid out to the event’s vendors. Bats Day already barely breaks even, so adding this set of burdens makes things really tough for us. They force us to raise certain prices and otherwise jeopardize the event’s logistics. On top of this, we’ve been priced out of the hotel we held our events in for the past eight years, reducing our chances to keep this event happening for the community even further.
When is Bats Day:
The final structured Bats Day at Disneyland Park will be May 6 at Disneyland Park.
For More Information:
Visit the Bats Day website.