Yoga Tax: Religious Affront?

Monday, 28 February 2011 | by Pat's Picks

Yoga has become an increasingly popular hobby in America over the past few decades. That’s why the governor of Connecticut wants to remove an exemption and tax yoga classes the way other fitness classes are. But for Hindus, who’ve practiced yoga as a religious ritual for more than 4000 years, the plan is nothing more than a “religious affront” says the New Haven Register. Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s plan is include yoga studios in a category along with other health clubs, which are already taxed. Under the plan, any transaction between a yoga instructor and a religious organization will still be exempt. Unsurprisingly, most of the yoga studio owners the Register interviewed were against the plan but instead of trumpeting the religious-discrimination angle, they all urged that yoga classes should be tax exempt on the grounds that it’s a healthy hobby.