Why does Montgomery County Subsidize Taxes for Country Clubs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm furious to find out that these private clubs not open to me to use and enjoy are being offered a lower tax rate than I pay for my own home.

Curious here - how do you feel about all the private swim and tennis clubs in the area paying a lower tax rate? They don't have more than 50 acres but I'm pretty sure that they aren't paying residential rates. How about private schools?

Further proof wealthiest Washingtonians are also the biggest cows at the Government Trough. Tax all of it at market rates.

This is utter BS.

[Anonymous]

Interesting.

I can see the argument that private clubs and schools using more land space but having green space are a benefit to the area and we don't use either.

We do belong to a $200 a year swim and tennis club which we would not join if it cost $500 or 1K. We use the county pool in the winter because its indoors but during the summer the neighborhood one is close enough for the kids to ride their bikes or walk to everyday. The county facilities are 20-30 minutes away and don't offer the same neighborhood community activities like the swim team events, holiday parties, and back to school parties that are open to non-members without charge. It would be bad to lose this facility.

We don't use private schools except sometimes we do do a week of camp there. One of the pluses in MoCo is that you can usually find camp options with before and aftercare at the private schools. The county camps fill up fast and offer spotty after care/short hours. The swim clubs also offer camps. Losing the private schools and the neighborhood swim clubs would push away people who choose to live in MoCo for the private schools, reduce the available camp spots, and add density.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm furious to find out that these private clubs not open to me to use and enjoy are being offered a lower tax rate than I pay for my own home.

Curious here - how do you feel about all the private swim and tennis clubs in the area paying a lower tax rate? They don't have more than 50 acres but I'm pretty sure that they aren't paying residential rates. How about private schools?

Further proof wealthiest Washingtonians are also the biggest cows at the Government Trough. Tax all of it at market rates.

This is utter BS.

+1. There’s no reason that country clubs and private pool clubs should be paying lower tax rates than MoCo residents. They are exclusive fee bass organizations and not public goods. MoCo has many public pools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm furious to find out that these private clubs not open to me to use and enjoy are being offered a lower tax rate than I pay for my own home.

Curious here - how do you feel about all the private swim and tennis clubs in the area paying a lower tax rate? They don't have more than 50 acres but I'm pretty sure that they aren't paying residential rates. How about private schools?

All of that needs to stop. Every bit of it.


The residential tax rate needs to be the BASE rate, the minimum rate, from which all other tax rates are benchmarked (except for agricultural property, since that’s obviously different).

Religious property needs to match residential assessments, business property needs to be higher, and private club or private school property (don’t care whether it’s a pool, tennis courts, church school, or whatever) needs to be the hightest of all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm furious to find out that these private clubs not open to me to use and enjoy are being offered a lower tax rate than I pay for my own home.

Curious here - how do you feel about all the private swim and tennis clubs in the area paying a lower tax rate? They don't have more than 50 acres but I'm pretty sure that they aren't paying residential rates. How about private schools?

All of that needs to stop. Every bit of it.


The residential tax rate needs to be the BASE rate, the minimum rate, from which all other tax rates are benchmarked (except for agricultural property, since that’s obviously different).

Religious property needs to match residential assessments, business property needs to be higher, and private club or private school property (don’t care whether it’s a pool, tennis courts, church school, or whatever) needs to be the hightest of all.

Our residential rates are ridiculous. So, if you proceed as you wish we won’t have any private pools, Rec centers (YMCA?), churches, or private schools.

[Anonymous]

So we won't have private pools or private schools?

And???????? We have public pools. Wh have public schools. We don't need to subsidize private schools and club facilities that discriminate against non-members.


And no one is keeping you from having a church. You could start any church you want. You could go to any church you want. The church just needs to pay taxes for the land it owns - just like you do. What's unfair about that? You could even have a church that was entirely interenet based, and didn't pay any property taxes at all. Zero. None.



You're actually proving my point, rather than refuting it.

[Anonymous]

The tax needs to not just be equitable, it needs to be punitive at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So we won't have private pools or private schools?

And???????? We have public pools. Wh have public schools. We don't need to subsidize private schools and club facilities that discriminate against non-members.


And no one is keeping you from having a church. You could start any church you want. You could go to any church you want. The church just needs to pay taxes for the land it owns - just like you do. What's unfair about that? You could even have a church that was entirely interenet based, and didn't pay any property taxes at all. Zero. None.



You're actually proving my point, rather than refuting it.

We won’t all fit in the public facilities that we currently have.
So it’s bit to your benefit as people are paying their own good money -.and not 100 % relying on taxes- to go to the private pool or club.

[Anonymous]

And the owners of those private clubs certainly have the right to offer to sell them to the county if it becomes too difficult to pay their fair taxes for the privileg of having a private club that discriminates against nonmembers.

Then the county can turn around an operate them as public facilities. Problem solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hope this legislation goes through. These country clubs aren't public green spaces, and they can just raise the rates on their ultra rich members to pay their fair share of taxes so that they're not paying lower rates than Montgomery County residents.

Offer them a choice: they can pay their fair share of tax rates PLUS open up to the public, OR, they can pay a special, super-high, punitive rate (like $10,000 per acre or higher) and stay private.

If their privacy and exclusivity mean that much to them and their members, well, that privilege should be one they have to pay a premium for.

This is asinine. They should pay market rate. Nothing more or less. I expect you pay market rate for your home. With that rate, should your home be forced open to the public as well?

[Anonymous]

This thread is hysterical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Meh I'm not a golf fan or have any desire to join a country club but this is good example of why Takoma Park based politicians aren't good for the county. This rep's first try at this included all small clubs which would have made the small, cheapo neighborhood swim and tennis clubs all over the county go under. I guess his thinking was if it doesn't benefit Takoma Park directly then tax it more and send those dollars on over to Takoma Park pronto. He lost so now he's back focusing on only the clubs with larger golf courses.

While I personally don't care if the small number of clubs that David is targeting need to pay more taxes, I do care that MoCo politicians are once again not focusing on getting more business revenue into the county. Its embarrassing how badly MoCo is doing compared to VA,DC, Howard and Frederick! If David one and only plan for more revenue by increasing the taxes succeeds it would only go into place in 2031 and only raise 10M for the county. This will do nothing to steer away from the budget and financial crisis within MoCo.

+1. I’m a DC resident who have previously considered MoCo for a future home. This sort of thinking (let’s tax the H$ll out of private clubs!) is scary and why I don’t think I can consider living in MoCo. The entire state seems to be about driving business away and passing legislation that ultimately hurts the state and future tax dollars. It’s like the lawmakers cant stand prosperity and want everyone on the dole. It isn’t surprising that northern Virginia has experienced more growth.

Signed, a liberal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And the owners of those private clubs certainly have the right to offer to sell them to the county if it becomes too difficult to pay their fair taxes for the privileg of having a private club that discriminates against nonmembers.

Then the county can turn around an operate them as public facilities. Problem solved.

What about your house? How is it any different?

People belong to clubs to stay away from people like you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And the owners of those private clubs certainly have the right to offer to sell them to the county if it becomes too difficult to pay their fair taxes for the privileg of having a private club that discriminates against nonmembers.

Then the county can turn around an operate them as public facilities. Problem solved.

What about your house? How is it any different?

People belong to clubs to stay away from people like you.

Too bad for you and your fellow club members, there's far more people who will side with me. Your days are numbered. This is a populist cause. And you are unpopular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meh I'm not a golf fan or have any desire to join a country club but this is good example of why Takoma Park based politicians aren't good for the county. This rep's first try at this included all small clubs which would have made the small, cheapo neighborhood swim and tennis clubs all over the county go under. I guess his thinking was if it doesn't benefit Takoma Park directly then tax it more and send those dollars on over to Takoma Park pronto. He lost so now he's back focusing on only the clubs with larger golf courses.

While I personally don't care if the small number of clubs that David is targeting need to pay more taxes, I do care that MoCo politicians are once again not focusing on getting more business revenue into the county. Its embarrassing how badly MoCo is doing compared to VA,DC, Howard and Frederick! If David one and only plan for more revenue by increasing the taxes succeeds it would only go into place in 2031 and only raise 10M for the county. This will do nothing to steer away from the budget and financial crisis within MoCo.

+1. I’m a DC resident who have previously considered MoCo for a future home. This sort of thinking (let’s tax the H$ll out of private clubs!) is scary and why I don’t think I can consider living in MoCo. The entire state seems to be about driving business away and passing legislation that ultimately hurts the state and future tax dollars. It’s like the lawmakers cant stand prosperity and want everyone on the dole. It isn’t surprising that northern Virginia has experienced more growth.

Signed, a liberal

You sound more like a Rotary Club republican than an actual Progressive.