Missouri lawmakers are considering a measure to alleviate sales taxes for fitness establishments. Currently, the state charges sales tax for all places of recreation and entertainment, including fitness centers. We want to encourage people to be healthy and have active lifestyles. And I don't think that we should be taxing that, and I don't think the original intent of the tax was to tax that," said Rep. Eric Burlison, who is sponsoring the legislation.
[The Kansas City Star]
A man who was on a treadmill at a North Carolina Anytime Fitness suffered a heart attack and flew off his machine. The incident likely would have been fatal if not for a woman and her two daughters, all of whom have medical experience. The man was working out alone in the cardio room when the three women walked in just as the incident occurred. “He was unresponsive, wasn’t breathing and had no pulse... We opened the airway and started basic life support for him.” [ABC News]
Anytime Fitness plans for both domestic and international expansion received a boost with the announced investment of Atlanta-based private-equity firm Roark Capital Group. Terms of the deal have not been released. [Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal]
Ex-members of a now-defunct Gold's Gym are in a quandary after being referred to a collection agency by their former gym over unpaid dues, which they claim they do not owe. However, since the gym is no longer in operation, and the main office of Gold's Gym doesn't take responsibility for franchisees, they have no way of disputing the debts. The former members say that the collection agency is demanding large sums of money without any proof of the debt. "You can't talk to anyone at all... They have no record of me or anything, they just say this is the figure, it's from Gold's Gym, pay it." [CTV News Calgary]
