That's Entertainment!

Tom Fahey reports on the swift and forceful reaction against a proposed Entertainment Tax that floated around the Legislative Office Building yesterday:

Few would discuss details of the proposal prior to its introduction as budget talks moved toward a deadline. It is the third time in 20 years a tax on entertainment has been brought up. It has always proven vastly unpopular among lawmakers.

In general, entertainment would be taxed under the existing Rooms and Meals tax. At 8 percent for several years now, the budget committee had plans to raise the tax rate as high as 9 percent.

The tax would apply to everything from ski lift tickets, greens fees at golf courses, bowling, movies, amusement parks and NASCAR races.

Representative Steve Vaillancourt provides some background on the Entertainment Tax in the comments section at Red Hampshire:

This is not a new idea. I remember when I was on the Finance Committee in 1999, in response to the first crisis over Claremont funding, we had a hearing on this. There were so many opponents that we had to hold it in Reps Hall. It’s come up a few times since, and I have to be perfectly honest. I believe we should cut spending more, but of all the things that could be taxed without hurting people, this is the one. If you can afford to pay $200 to go to a Cher concert, it probably wouldn’t phase you one bit to pay another eight percent.