Reply to Why does Montgomery County Subsidize Taxes for Country Clubs?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]I am stunned that people think this way. A club is a club. Whether to be open to the public or not is a business decision. It's abhorrent that people can advocate different tax rates based what a membership constituency looks like. Hell, even a poll tax was less discriminatory because everyone had to pay the same rate.[/quote]

I agree and the nut cases on this thread illustrate why MoCo is in trouble. There is no logic just an emotional, hysterical I want to hurt anything that I don't use because I'm a fool type attitude going on.

Businesses that require more land to operate often negotiate tax reductions. If the [b]community[/b] sees a benefit to this business then it gets granted. I'd wager that the community surrounding the big clubs in Potomac would quickly vote that having those clubs in their community is an overall benefit for property values. I'd wager that in Rockville residents would quickly vote that the smaller, inexpensive swim and tennis club is a benefit to their community. In Gaithersburg, North Potomac, North Bethesda, Rockville, Olney, Poolesville and many other areas these small swim and tennis clubs end up being cheaper than paying a daily rate to go to the county aquatics facility which is often much farther away.

These clubs do memberships rather than daily transactions as a business operations function. For many of the small clubs there is nothing exclusive about it. You sign up and wait for a spot to open. You pay a monthly or annual membership fee. This lets the club stay inexpensive because they can forecast their budget with less risk and they don't need to hire people to handle daily transactions or accountants to manage regular cash deposits. Its a local teenager job to be a lifeguard or check cards at the front desk.

Clubs with nice facilities get more expensive to cover the costs. Clubs that wants more exclusivity charge much higher membership fees.  The clubs that practice discrimination in membership like Burning Tree already don't take any tax breaks.

As these clubs are not in Takoma Park, a Takoma Park representative should not be trying to represent what the communities surrounding these clubs want. Its a great example of why Montgomery County is too large to have fair representative government. [/quote]

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