Golfers, ice skaters and swimmers will soon pay more for their fun, thanks to state lawmakers.
A new law effective July 1 kills sales-tax exemptions for admission and green fees at the city's golf course and recreation center.For golfers, a nine-hole round will cost $7.50 instead of $7; cart rentals will also increase by 50 cents. Users of the city's recreation center will pay a quarter more.
Most of the increases will go directly to the state's general fund, which then will give the money to Utah's poorer school districts. In Bountiful's case, the taxes collected by the golf course alone could generate as much as $39,000 a year.
State Tax Commission spokeswoman Janice Perry said officials are drafting a bulletin that will go to all golf courses before July 1 explaining how the law will affect them. Essentially, workers will have to collect the 6.25 percent tax on green fees and cart rentals, she said.
Though the money will benefit schoolchildren, City Manager Tom Hardy wonders whether it's right for state government to - in effect - tax local government.
"I can understand why it should apply to golf - it's a profitmaking concern," he said. "But taxing our citizens who go to the recreation center is unfair. Many people go there to swim, for example, because there is no place else for them to go if they don't belong to a country club."
And taxpayers in Bountiful already subsidize the city's recreation center, so charging them sales tax on admission is "a double hit," Hardy said.
However, the Utah Taxpayers Association, a watchdog group, says the city's "hue and cry" over the issue may just be an attempt to protect its right to raise rates in the future.
The association did not take a position on the law when it was first proposed partly because leaders saw that it wouldn't force a tax increase on all residents. "The question is whether people who use these services should pay sales tax. It's a matter of choice. Those who don't use the services don't pay," said President Howard Stephenson.
He said users of private recreation centers have to pay sales tax on admissions. "I ask why a city that competes with private enterprise should be exempt from sales tax on their admissions?"
The law won't affect just Bountiful city. Every government agency with similar recreation centers and golf courses will have to charge the sales tax.