A House panel is prepping a new tax break for gym memberships, fitness classes, and other workout expenses, as incentives for health.
Golf, however, would be specifically excluded, as would horseback riding. Country clubs, too, wouldn’t get a share of the break.
The break is one of a package of bills meant to expand health savings accounts and alter Obamacare the House Ways and Means Committee began working on Wednesday and will continue reviewing Thursday.
“Americans should have the ability to save and spend their health care dollars the way they want and need,” House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said at the beginning of the committee’s work on the bill.
The legislation in question, authored by Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., would allow individuals to spend up to $500 annually from their tax-privileged HSAs on gym memberships and other sports and fitness expenses. Ron Kind, a Wisconsin Democrat, co-sponsored the bill.
Golf, hunting, sailing, and riding would all be ruled out as sports, though, and country club dues would also not be included.
The break would cost the federal government over $3.5 billion over the course of 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
