| last Rep |
One Hundred Twenty Million
Protecting
Members by 2010
Is the Hard Part
“The mission of IHRSA is to grow, protect, and promote the industry,
and to provide its members with benefits that will help them be more
successful.” Mission statements are noble constructs, expressions of
one’s grandest aspirations, but results rely on cold hard reality.
G
row, promote, and protect are all obviously essen- Some states have also broached the idea that
tial to the success and profitability of our industry. clubs shouldn’t be allowed to collect monthly dues
The first two depend largely upon the ambition, using EFT. Bills have been crafted that would force
intelligence, expertise, and efforts of individual members to sign new agreements every month,
operators, and, for the most part—local competition which would effectively destroy a fair and reason-
notwithstanding—generally aren’t subject to out- able business model that’s employed by most clubs.
side interference. Again, IHRSA has a remarkable track record of
Protecting clubs, in order to protect the industry, protecting the industry from this type of legislation;
is another messier matter—particularly at the state however, protecting clubs from unreasonable laws
level, where, it seems, legisla- is expensive.
Tracy
tors and government agencies IHRSA membership dues alone don’t begin to
Powell
are constantly identifying new cover the cost of protecting you from laws prohibit-
ways to make doing business ing EFT renewals.
more difficult. Recently, many states have been drafting bills
Today, states are grappling that would impose burdensome and expensive
with severe financial chal- restrictions on personal trainers. IHRSA has also
lenges—47 are currently been quite successful in protecting the industry
facing budget deficits—and from this type of legislation, sometimes by crafting
they’re searching, more examples of reasonable legislation.
aggressively than ever before, You guessed it: IHRSA membership dues alone
for ways to raise money. One don’t begin to cover the cost of protecting you from
popular approach is to tax this type of government intrusion.
Joe Moore
membership dues, or, in states I’ve pointed out three ways that IHRSA helps
IHRSA President & CEO
that already do so, to increase protect your business. So far this year, the associa-
the rate. These taxes are one tion’s public-policy team has scored 21 major
of the most devastating prob- victories and suffered not a single defeat, but its
lems that clubs can face. And it’s hardly comforting efforts are putting a strain on the existing resources.
that nearly all of the states with such taxes exempt You see the problem: the industry desperately
nonprofit fitness facilities, such as YMCAs, JCCs, needs more club operators who are actively
and university- and hospital-based centers. involved in public policy, supporting IHRSA’s
When politicians attack, club operators turn for initiatives both with their time and money. So,
help to IHRSA’s public-policy team, which has an what should you do? Learn more about the asso-
impressive track record of defeating tax bills. Since ciation’s Public Policy Defense Fund and the ILC
2000, 21 sales tax battles have occurred in 10 (Industry Leadership Council) by contacting
states, but in only two cases have bills passed. Meredith Poppler, vice president of industry
However—and here’s where the cold hard reality growth, at 800-228-4772, Ext.129, or mpoppler@
comes into play—protecting clubs from punitive
ihrsa.org. —|
taxes is expensive.
IHRSA membership dues alone don’t begin to cover
the cost of protecting you from new or higher taxes. – Joe Moore,
jmoore@ihrsa.org
100 Club Business International | DECEMBER 2009 |
www.ihrsa.org
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106