Health Clubs Deleted from Senate Version of Maryland Tax Bill

In a very positive development on Tuesday afternoon, the Maryland Senate Budget & Taxation Committee voted to delete health clubs from the list of services to which a sales tax would be expanded. Senate Bill 2 will go to the floor of the Senate for vote on Thursday without a tax on health club dues.

Members of the Senate Budget & Taxation heard the voice of a unified industry and the consumers we serve, and chose not to tax health club lifestyles. IHRSA is asking clubs to keep the pressure on to ensure that other Maryland legislators do the same. The proposed sales tax expansion may move to the House Ways & Means Committee as early as this weekend.

Thanks to the hard work of an IHRSA-supported coalition of fitness professionals, lobbyists and consumers, health club dues were not included in the tax package. IHRSA continues to actively lobby the Michigan legislature for the repeal.