Golf course owners and some of their customers are teed off at
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for proposing a 10 percent tax on all
things golf
– from greens and driving range fees to cart rentals, club
memberships and dues – the list goes on, course operators said.
Golf course owners and some of their customers are teed off at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for proposing a 10 percent tax on all things golf – from greens and driving range fees to cart rentals, club memberships and dues – the list goes on, course operators said.
“They’ll be putting the carrot 10 percent farther away from you,” said Rick Smith, general manager of the Eagle Ridge Golf Club. “It’ll hurt. Golf has been in the doldrums for some time. Across the country there are way too many golf courses and not enough golfers anymore.”
When the American standard of a two-income household became the norm, leisure time decreased, taking golf enthusiasts with it, Smith said. Add in the layoffs and housing woes that have plagued California’s families in the past year and the outlook for golf is pretty gloomy, Smith said. He also predicted that golf tournaments, which raise millions of dollars every year for various causes and charities, would be scaled back.
The proposed golf tax is an attempt to help close a nearly $42 billion state budget deficit. The proposal would also tax auto repairs, veterinary care, amusement park and sporting event admissions, and appliance and furniture repairs.
Service taxes in other states include levies on pet grooming, water well drilling, fur storage, massages, shoe repairs, swimming pool cleaning, taxidermy, and dating and diaper services. But that doesn’t make the groups affected by Schwarzenegger’s proposal feel any better.
“It’s a bad idea,” said Ernie Fortino as he waited in the Gilroy Golf Course pro-shop for his golf buddies to arrive Wednesday morning. “We’re already overtaxed. The state needs to stop spending. Some of us can afford it but some of us can’t.”
Fortino, 73, said he’s been playing golf at the Gilroy Municipal Golf Course on Hecker Pass a couple times a week for more than 15 years. The owner of Fortino Winery just down the road, Fortino said wine and golf are two of California’s tourism staples and the tax will only hurt the state in the long run in the form of fewer players, lost jobs and closed courses.
Weekday greens fees at the Gilroy course run $27 for 18 holes of golf without a cart. At two times a week, a 10 percent tax would add nearly $300 onto Fortino’s annual golf bill.
Another Gilroy Golf Course regular, Dave Perez, 56, said he’d pay the tax but he didn’t have to like it. Fortunately for Perez, he already purchased an annual pass for $1,090, exempting him from a possible tax this year. But next year, the tax would tack an extra $109 onto his fee.
Managers and golfers alike questioned the proposal to tax only golf and not other sports or recreational activities.
“How they can single out just golf, not bowling, not playing pool, not fishing – I don’t know,” Smith said.
H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger’s Department of Finance, said the six types of services Schwarzenegger is proposing to tax were picked because they involve businesses that commonly collect sales taxes on goods they sell and could quickly adjust.
“There’s no good time to raise taxes,” Palmer said. “This is not something that the governor is putting forward because he enjoys it.”
The affected industry groups say they are being unfairly targeted and that similar businesses are exempt.
“This unfair tax singles out golf,” said Don DeLorenzo, operator of the Gilroy course. “Why not spread it out? If something’s gotta give, let’s look at all the recreational industries.”
Earlier this week, DeLorenzo e-mailed golfers letting them know about the proposed tax and urging them to visit www.forecalifornia.com – a Web site launched by the California Alliance for Golf to unite the state’s golf community – and to write their legislators.
“We’re a blue collar golf course but there are some clubs that have very influential members who may have some clout,” DeLorenzo said, giving actor Clint Eastwood – who owns Tehama Golf Club in Carmel – as an example.
The Schwarzenegger administration estimates that the service taxes would raise $1.4 billion through the next fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2010. The governor wants to implement the taxes on appliance and furniture repairs, golf, veterinary care and vehicle repairs by March 1. The taxes on amusement park and sporting event tickets would kick in on April 1.
