Paterson proposes gym membership tax

Albany still needs to close an even bigger deficit for the next fiscal year. And lawmakers could try to do that by pumping up the price of a gym membership.

Governor David Paterson is proposing a four percent tax on all gym memberships and that's causing some stress for gym managers who worry about how the tax could impact business.

Lisa Wieczkowski comes to the gym six days a week to stay fit.

And before she chose the Buffalo Athletic Club, she shopped around for the best deal. So she's not too happy to hear about the governor's proposal to tax gym memberships.

Wieczkowski said, "I think it's a little bit unfair to tax people who are trying to exercise, trying to get healthy."

Melissa Denny doesn't like it either.

Denny said, "It's really too bad that something like this where people, everybody who's here is here to be healthy and try to maintain that sort of lifestyle and that we end up having to pay for it."

BAC General manager Andrew Waters asked, "Why would you tax somebody to exercise which is already hard enough to do?"

Waters says the proposed tax contradicts the fight against obesity. He thinks gyms could end up losing potential members if the tax is passed.

"We get calls regularly all day long, 'what are the prices of memberships, what does my health insurance cover' and when you start putting a tax in there, it gets even more confusing. for a buyer or a prospect."

Hamburg World Gym General Manager Joe Major said, "As a small business, we now have to decide whether we're going to absorb that or pass it on to our customers."

Even though the tax would only amount to maybe an additional twenty dollars per membership, there's a good chance some will say it's just too much money.

So does that mean Lisa Wieczkowski will stop coming?

Wieczkowski said, "Probably not, no."

Governor Paterson has said the new taxes and fees would help avoid devastating cuts to education and healthcare.