City of Calgary Taxation on Golf Courses

[timun]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

only close down or raise taxes on the golf courses that Slava goes to.

Agreed. </thread>

[Winsor_Pilates]

This thread would have been better if Sliver made it and just came out with Golf is gross and should be banned from existence.
At least those threads get straight to the point of the distain.

[CaptainYooh]

We can look at both public parks and private golf courses essentially being the lungs of the city and adding beauty to it and to the enjoyment of those who live nearby and pay higher property taxes because of higher property values. Then we can look at public parks paying no property taxes at all and being fully funded by the taxpayers (say, 40% of the city population) for the benefit of those few who use them occasionally and at private courses which are fully funded by the members. Then we can come to a conclusion that private courses are in fact subsidizing the city's cleaner air by using private money and pay business taxes. But no, we choose to look at them as a waste and as "we should tax those bastards even more!".

City is pouring hundreds of millions into the public transit which is severely under-used, losing money and runs empty most of the time. Wanna talk about subsidies, start there.

These threads are 100% predictable. Never fails.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

We can look at both public parks and private golf courses essentially being the lungs of the city and adding beauty to it and to the enjoyment of those who live nearby and pay higher property taxes because of higher property values. Then we can look at public parks paying no property taxes at all and being fully funded by the taxpayers (say, 40% of the city population) for the benefit of those few who use them occasionally and at private courses which are fully funded by the members. Then we can come to a conclusion that private courses are in fact subsidizing the city's cleaner air by using private money and pay business taxes. But no, we choose to look at them as a waste and as "we should tax those bastards even more!".

City is pouring hundreds of millions into the public transit which is severely under-used, losing money and runs empty most of the time. Wanna talk about subsidies, start there.

These threads are 100% predictable. Never fails.

LOL. That's some expert pretzel making.

Properties boarding parks have high property values as well, so that point is moot. And the "few who use public parks" is a nice attempt at minimizing a public resource accessible to everyone, as opposed to a pay for access playground for the wealthy, complete with fences and barriers so the public has to take the long way around. #### me, we should be so thankful they exist! I'm convinced.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

I have long suspected this to be bizaro86’s M.O.

I don’t really have a dog in this fight, but I’ll propose a compromise that I think should satisfy both the eat the rich folks and the insecure white males who think they are being persecuted crowd, that compromise is to only close down or raise taxes on the golf courses that Slava goes to.

Originally Posted by timun

Agreed. </thread>

Tough but fair. I don't know why you won't think of the workers here, but maybe I'm more compassionate.

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

#### me, we should be so thankful they exist! I'm convinced.

Yes. That was my point.

[GGG]

The simple action is to let the market determine if Private Golf courses should exist. Tax based on the actual land value including location of the course and let the chips fall.

Private Golf course aren’t special and provide no more recreational opportunities than restaurants and shopping malls

In theory this let’s golf courses be redeveloped with housing when the value proposition is there and new courses on outskirts to replace them.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by GGG

The simple action is to let the market determine if Private Golf courses should exist. Tax based on the actual land value including location of the course and let the chips fall.

Private Golf course aren’t special and provide no more recreational opportunities than restaurants and shopping malls

In theory this let’s golf courses be redeveloped with housing when the value proposition is there and new courses on outskirts to replace them.

This is already the case, no?
The premise of the thread was the golf courses should be taxed at a rate higher than other businesses like shopping malls, restaurants etc.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

This is already the case, no?
The premise of the thread was the golf courses should be taxed at a rate higher than other businesses like shopping malls, restaurants etc.

According to the city of Calgary website location of the course is not used to assess land value.

https://www.calgary.ca/for-business/...ssessment.html


Some people are pushing best use but if that were applied it would be applied everywhere so my logic wouldn’t change

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

This is already the case, no?
The premise of the thread was the golf courses should be taxed at a rate higher than other businesses like shopping malls, restaurants etc.

No. That is not the premise of the thread.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Slava

Tough but fair. I don't know why you won't think of the workers here, but maybe I'm more compassionate.

If only I’d known that putting your tee times in jeopardy was all it would take to get you looking out for the best interests of workers I think we could have saved ourselves a lot of headache in the past.

New solution to fix most if not all of the world’s problems: Increase the wages of employees at golf courses, they’ll pay more taxes on the increased earnings so the golf courses will generate more tax revenue. The eat the rich folks can rest easy knowing that those wage increases will be covered by higher green fees paid by golfers who according to this thread are more likely to be insecure rich white males so they’ll be happy, and the insecure white males crowd can continue to live in their safe space of feeling persecuted so they’ll be happy too. Everyone’s a winner!

We’re such a powerhouse of problem solving when we work together Slava.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

If only I’d known that putting your tee times in jeopardy was all it would take to get you looking out for the best interests of workers I think we could have saved ourselves a lot of headache in the past.

New solution to fix most if not all of the world’s problems: Increase the wages of employees at golf courses, they’ll pay more taxes on the increased earnings so the golf courses will generate more tax revenue. The eat the rich folks can rest easy knowing that those wage increases will be covered by higher green fees paid by golfers who according to this thread are more likely to be insecure rich white males so they’ll be happy, and the insecure white males crowd can continue to live in their safe space of feeling persecuted so they’ll be happy too. Everyone’s a winner!

We’re such a powerhouse of problem solving when we work together Slava.

The rich are already subsidizing golf course workers through the massive tipping on food and services. Golfers are probably the best tippers you will ever meet!

[Jason14h]

And why do we assume only white people golf! According to last years stats only 67% in the US were white

What about the other 33% of insecure non white golfers? Are they excluded

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

And why do we assume only white people golf! According to last years stats only 67% in the US were white

What about the other 33% of insecure non white golfers? Are they excluded

Not to mention the major growth in golf is women and girls.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

LOL. That's some expert pretzel making.

Properties boarding parks have high property values as well, so that point is moot. And the "few who use public parks" is a nice attempt at minimizing a public resource accessible to everyone, as opposed to a pay for access playground for the wealthy, complete with fences and barriers so the public has to take the long way around. #### me, we should be so thankful they exist! I'm convinced.

Our private courses here all donate daily chunks of tee times to public high school teams for practices and matches and to other colleges and schools.. Do Calgary private courses not do this? Also give weekend times to junior golf tournaments that are open to the public.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

And why do we assume only white people golf! According to last years stats only 67% in the US were white

What about the other 33% of insecure non white golfers? Are they excluded

I didn’t make that claim, but we’re trying to address everyone’s concerns here.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

The rich are already subsidizing golf course workers through the massive tipping on food and services. Golfers are probably the best tippers you will ever meet!

So what you’re saying is they’re probably ok with paying more for green fees?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Our private courses here all donate daily chunks of tee times to public high school teams for practices and matches and to other colleges and schools.. Do Calgary private courses not do this? Also give weekend times to junior golf tournaments that are open to the public.

Sounds like good marketing! Hook 'em young.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

So what you’re saying is they’re probably ok with paying more for green fees?

As long as you don't mind an equal reduction in tipping amount

So instead of the workers making the $, its goes into the general tax revenue which partially goes back into the rich's hands in public good and services vs directly into the workers hands.

In fact, the rich make out better! I support this 100% with no course tipping

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

As long as you don't mind an equal reduction in tipping amount

So instead of the workers making the $, its goes into the general tax revenue which partially goes back into the rich's hands in public good and services vs directly into the workers hands.

In fact, the rich make out better! I support this 100% with no course tipping

Woah woah woah, are you suggesting workers don’t claim their tips?

In that case, increasing their wages will probably help the workers when they need to provide proof of income to qualify for things like a mortgage to get them out of the rental trap.

But I see your concern so I’d suggest perhaps maybe the courses could also offer things like extended heath benefits which won’t end up being taxed.

I’m not sure how much an increase in staff wages or benefits would impact the actual green fees or how much that increase would impact the ability of golfers to tip but since you made the argument that it will result in a(significant?) reduction in tipping I’ll assume you ran those numbers and let you share your data on that.