OTTAWA—A group of Canadian lawmakers is teeing off at what the country's golfers say is a decades-old unfair rule in the country's tax law.
Since 1971, Canadians have been barred from deducting greens fees for business-related golf outings. Canadian companies and businessmen can deduct hockey and other professional sports events, theater and concert tickets, and pricey meals at the country's finest restaurants, so long as they are business-related. But deducting a host of golf-related expenses—a staple of the tax code south of the border in the U.S.—is out of bounds.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Bill Clinton riding on a golf cart with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien during a round of golf at the Ashburn Golf Club in Halifax, Nova Scotia, after a G7 Summit in 1995.
A caucus of about two dozen parliamentarians from across all political stripes is pushing to persuade Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, himself an occasional golfer, to throw out the old law—introduced in an era when policy makers still viewed golf as an elitist pursuit. Today, golf is the country's most popular recreational activity, beating out even the national pastime of hockey, according to the country's statistics agency.
"It seems to me times have changed, and there's a chance to revisit this," said Russ Hiebert, a member of the ruling Conservative party. He represents an area south of Vancouver that is home to eight golf courses and a driving range.
Peter Stoffer, a member of the left-leaning opposition New Democratic Party, agrees. He says golf is environmentally friendly; it's a game that's often used to help raise cash for charity; and it promotes a healthy lifestyle among Canada's youth. His district, near Halifax, is home to seven golf courses.
Behind the legislative assault is an industry that has long targeted the law. The last attempt to revoke the measure fizzled in 2008, when the global financial crisis threatened to sap Canada's finances. The effort to repeal the law seemed a low priority at the time.
Canada's economy has recovered better than most other industrial countries. While Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised to slash expenses to balance the budget, he has also pushed through a number of big corporate tax cuts and a series of smaller tax-relief measures.
Those include breaks for parents whose kids enroll in sports and bigger tax deductions for long-haul truck drivers. The golf industry thinks the timing is right to be rid of the 1971 measure.
"As an industry, we are getting stepped on unfairly here," says Jeff Calderwood, chief executive of the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada. "No one else would tolerate it, so why should we." Mr. Calderwood said his association isn't contributing to any politicians' campaigns, and Canada's strict campaign-financing laws prohibit companies and unions from making political donations.
"I know people may see an ulterior motive but the reality is we just really like the game of golf, and we think the sport should be treated fairly as per other industries out there," says Mr. Stoffer, the NDP legislator.
Mr. Stoffer said the golf caucus sent a letter in mid-November to Mr. Flaherty, asking that the government reconsider golf's treatment under Canadian tax law. The hope is that changes would be forthcoming in the federal 2012 budget, due to be tabled some time in early 2012.
A spokesman for Canada's finance department, which is responsible for writing the tax laws, said golf is excluded because the "business" component tied to a round of golf "may often not be significant." Through a spokeswoman, Mr. Flaherty declined to comment, or confirm receipt of a letter from the Parliamentary golf caucus.
The cost of reversing the policy "wouldn't be insignificant," said Leonard Farber, a former senior policy maker in Canada's finance department and now an adviser at global law firm Norton Rose. Canadian government officials said it would be difficult to offer an estimate of lost revenue because deductions for golf have been excluded for the past 40 years.
Golf's special treatment under Canada's tax code has its genesis in the 1960s, when the game was targeted by a special government commission looking at whether wealthy Canadians were exploiting tax loopholes.
Geoffrey Hale, a tax-history expert and political science professor at Alberta's University of Lethbridge, said policy makers were swept up in the "egalitarian sense of the moment" when tax breaks for golf were nixed. Envy, though, was also a factor, he said.
"It was partly a function of civil servants saying, '[Business executives] can do this for recreational purposes, but we can't, and therefore why should we give you a tax break if we are writing the tax laws," he said.
Since then, policy makers have relented a bit. In 1997, tax officials ruled meals and beverages consumed in the clubhouse were eligible for a 50% deduction—the same deduction available for most other forms of business entertainment, such as restaurants and bars not located on a golf course.
Truck salesman Duncan Gillis is one of many business duffers hoping Parliament will go further. Nova Scotia-based Mr. Gillis has battled Canada's tax authorities over the years about his greens fees and says a golf game is crucial for winning and keeping customers. "With a round of golf, you have them for the whole day—which is a lot better than a 20-minute or half-hour sales call," Mr. Gillis said. "You get to know a lot about the customer, and he's is learning a lot more about you."
