National Golf Day tomorrow - May 13th, 2009. Email blast to get golfers in full swing

FORE! Get in the Game on “National Golf Day” 5/13

Take a strong swing and follow through for California golf TOMORROW Wednesday, May 13!

Tell your legislator and the Governor why golf is important to you and to California’s economy.

Wednesday, May 13 has been declared National Golf Day—to promote the value of golf at the national, state and local levels. It’s a great opportunity to deliver a message of golf’s “positive impacts to lives and livelihood,” says the National Golf Course Owners Association.

In honor of the day, do at least one thing on behalf of golf:

Call or email your legislator and communicate:
What golf means to California—
160,000 jobs, directly in golf and in hospitality (hotel/restaurant/retail) and landscape employment
Key financial support via public course fees for vital city and county parks programs for kids and seniors
$6.9 billion in revenue, in 2006, to the California economy, contributing substantially to the state through tourism, property taxes, income taxes and taxes on golf merchandise
Why a tax on playing golf would hurt golfers and a golf industry that’s struggling in the tough economy.* (see below)

The California Alliance for Golf (CAG) has made it easy for you to contact your elected officials:

Visit our policy action website, www.forecalifornia.com, and go to the “Get Involved” section for instructions on how to find and contact your legislator and the Governor.
You can even “Tweet” at Governor Schwarzenegger via Twitter. Comment to @Schwarzenegger and fill his page with reasons why golf is good for California and how a tax will hurt golfers, close courses and threaten an industry vital to the state.

Have a special story to tell? You’re a senior golfer on a fixed income? Your course utilizes innovative water conservation/recycling programs demonstrating good stewardship and water conservation. Tell it!

*With your support, the California Alliance for Golf earlier this year won a critical first round against a proposal to broaden the sales tax to include golf—green fees and cart rentals, lessons, and club membership fees and dues. But with the state’s ongoing budget woes, the golf tax is back on the table. A report is expected soon from a blue-ribbon tax commission appointed by the Governor and the State Legislature recommending ways to restructure California taxes. It then will be up to the Governor and legislature to propose new laws, likely including another version of the golf tax.

Comments

Phil Lee

Copy of my words to the politicians:

Golf Tax -- Blatantly Unfair

Not even Hugo Chavez would be crazy enough to propose such a blatantly self-serving and unfair tax on its citizens. Golf is no longer a rich man's sport. It's a sport that not only promotes good values such as politeness and consideration, but good behavior like patience and respect.

If the legislators are hungry for revenues, why not cut the budget.

If you don't have enough discipline to cut the budget, there are plenty of much less desirable and much more offensive sports that I can think of that would be far more deserving of being taxed:

Stalking and killing of birds, animals and sealife for sport.

Cruelty to horses and canines for gambling puposes.

Boxing and fighting for sport.

Motorized boating in ecologically sensitive waters.

Motorized vehicles in deserts and ecologically sensititve terrain.

The world would certainly be a better place if everyone who now kill animals for sport laid down their weapons and picked up some golf clubs instead.

Phil Lee

May 14, 2009, 2:51 AM