Source: Google News
Wire Service: AP
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hYdwJiLADqolCQNCg6TsABAaOJBwD9BPDP4G0
Yoga practitioners are criticizing a Missouri sales tax that applies to yoga classes, claiming they should be exempt because the lessons include spiritual elements.
A Missouri Department of Revenue official sent letters to 140 yoga and Pilates centers on Oct. 13, telling them they must collect sales tax on the fees for their classes and services and pay them beginning Nov. 1, if they weren't already.
The sales tax on money paid to places of "amusement, entertainment or recreation, games and athletic events" isn't new, said revenue spokesman Ted Farnen. He said the letters were sent so the businesses would know that yoga centers offer the same types of fitness services that the Missouri Supreme Court has found taxable.
The state gets about 4 percent sales tax; local communities charge sales tax on top of that, though the amount varies.
But the tax took many Missouri yoga instructors by surprise. They're bristling at the notion that the ancient practice could be construed as recreation or entertainment. "Whoever categorized it doesn't understand what yoga is," said Cathleen Williams, the owner of Urban Breath Yoga in St. Louis.