Haryana imposes tax on golfers

Dipak Kumar Dash & Richi Verma / TNN / Jul 9, 2009, 00:39 IST

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Golfers in Delhi and Gurgaon were in for a rude shock late last month when they received emails from their golf clubs in Gurgaon that the Haryana government had levied 25% entertainment tax on the sport.

NEW DELHI: Golfers in Delhi and Gurgaon were in for a rude shock late last month when they received emails from their golf clubs in Gurgaon that the Haryana government had levied 25% entertainment tax on the sport.
The government cited provisions of the Punjab Entertainment Duty Act 1955 to justify the tax.
The emails said the tax would be collected with retrospective effect from 2003 and was being levied on membership fees, subscription fees, cart fees, caddy fees, rentals of golf clubs etc.
State excise and taxation commissioner A K Singh told TOI that golf qualifies as ``recreation''. The Act says that entertainment tax can be levied on any entertainment, including ``exhibition, performance, amusement, game, sport or race to which persons are ordinarily admitted on payment.'' Officials feel the sport is pursued for ``pleasure'' and that in such clubs, people ``buy expensive membership''.

However, the golfers are not buying this logic. Vaibhav Arora, a resident of Gulmohar Park who frequently visits the Gurgaon greens, said: ``How can golf be treated like this when there is no such tax on other sports? We pay huge amounts for membership in golf clubs and charging us 25% more is very unfair. The Haryana government cannot club golf with movies or other recreational activities. You don't levy tax on table tennis or any other sport.''

Added Colonel K S Khatana, a resident of Gurgaon and a member of the Army golf club: ``Golf is already a very expensive sport. A golf set costs Rs 30,000 and each ball costs upto Rs 300 - and you need several dozens of balls. Then there is the expenditure on caddies and high membership charges for the elite golf clubs. The Haryana government needs to change its perception.''
According to government officials, two major golf courses - DLF Golf Course and Classic Golf Resort - have challenged the order in Punjab and Haryana High Court. They said that while the latter has got a stay on depositing arrears, it paid Rs 12.61 lakh last month for the current fiscal. DLF has deposited, it was claimed, Rs 1.7 crore as arrears. They added that the government levied the tax under the Act only after it won a case challenging it in Supreme Court in 2008.
State finance minister Birender Singh refused to comment on the issue since the matter is subjudice.
Golf players in the city are aghast. ``Golf is not entertainment because we play only for ourselves. If the government wants to discourage golf, then it is free to do anything,'' said Rajbir Rana, a regular golfer at the TERI golf course in Gurgaon. ``The government is only trying to put it out of reach for most people. Those who are addicted to the sport would keep playing, but parents will not be able to encourage their children to take it up in future,'' said Ajay Chaudhary, a businessman, who is a member of DLF Golf Club.

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