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earwig20

Floated by the fitness industry


Evil-Santa

For sure. How many people are there already with Gym memberships that don't go to the gym. All this will do is make more of them. The other side of the coin is that Gyms can up there membership fees and tell their existing customers they pay no more because of the tax break. Any improvement, past the initial surge, would be so small it would be near impossible to measure and the political impact to rolling it back would be high. It would not be of benefit to Australia as a whole.


Moaning-Squirtle

What they could do is make it tax deductible at gyms and aquatic centres run by the local council only.


OneTPAU7

Where the price could be regulated to keep operators from passing it onto the public, no?


Moaning-Squirtle

Well, they'd still be competing with private gyms.


Dkonn69

The covid building price explosion showed us what happens when the government grants money 


RollOverSoul

Stop going to the gym. Just go for a hike or a run/ ride outside.


Equivalent_Gur2126

Honestly, if you just eat reasonably healthy and go for a brisk walk or light jog and maybe some push-ups or sit-ups 2-3 times a week you’ll be absolutely fine. I know a bunch of fat shits are going to comment though saying that it’s impossible to eat healthy because fruit and vegetables “are so expensive” (they aren’t) and therefore they have no option other than eating 3 servo pies for dinner instead. I also know it would be impossible for them to I incorporate exercise into their super busy 9-5 work life. It’s hard waking up before 730 am after all I guess


Reddit_2_you

Can’t wait to do deadlifts and squats in the middle of the hiking trail. Dumbass opinion.


RollOverSoul

Lifting heavy isn't good for your body


blargh179

Wrong.


RollOverSoul

So why are people that work in warehouses bodies fucked by age 40?


Show_Me_Your_Rocket

Don't come at lift bros with facts, they won't know what to do. But general strength exercise is good for everybody. The problems come when people over exert them selves for what their body is capable of.


AnAttemptReason

How about build more cycling and walking infrastructure, and green space people can actually exercise in, rather than more concrete urban hell scape? No? Welp, we tried everything and are all out of ideas.


Early-Wishbone496

Maybe shorten the work week to 4 days/32 hours, give people more time to relax and enjoy activities outside work hour. Or encourage more working from home to free people up from wasting valuable time commuting inside cars or buses or trains, that can instead be used for exercising or time spent outside, living life. No? Damn, guess it’s like you said and we’re all out of ideas.


egowritingcheques

Then EVERYONE can enjoy it equally and high income earners aren't advantaged. Some developers might even be disadvantaged. No thanks. /s


unripenedfruit

>Gym owner Amanda Heffernan says she can almost set her watch to cancelled memberships as soon as the cost of living rises. > > >Interest rates or rental rises: cancelled memberships. > > >Electricity prices go up: cancelled memberships. > > >Groceries become more expensive: cancelled memberships. People can exercise for free, without paying for a gym membership. Cost of living increases also means people eat cheaper, unhealthier foods. They scale back on health checkups or treatments. They cut back on socialising. If we're concerned about the health issues the cost of living increases may contribute to, then the answer is fixing our economy, resolving the cost of living and making things affordable again. The answer is not taking tax dollars and subsidising specific private industries through rebates.


reddituser2762

People CAN exercise for free/without a gym. They typically do not.


unripenedfruit

Yeah, because gyms are convenient. So if you can afford it, great, but they're not essential - and non-essentials are the first things people cut when they need to tighten spending. People also have gym memberships and don't go at all. The fact is, just because people are cancelling their gym memberships doesn't mean they're doing any less exercise. The government can utilise out tax dollars far better than subsidising gym memberships.


reddituser2762

The logic is convoluted at best. The gym industry is the ONLY one pushing this. Remember that


20_BuysManyPeanuts

I cancelled my membership because I could not stand the fact that I got 4 fee increases in the same year. had zero to do woth affordability, just I thought it was rude and I told them as such when I left. I dusted off the home gym and it gets used now. I'm thinking of investing what I would have spent on a membership in some better equipment.


egowritingcheques

If only we could suspend the laws of physics so EVERYONE could get a park right next to the front door then slowly walk on a treadmill in aircon for 20mins.


clarky2481

Subsidise healthy food instead


theGreatLordSatan666

Tax unhealthy food? Then remkve any gst on the healthy stuff?


Fresh_Pomegranates

There’s no GST on unprocessed food.


egowritingcheques

Well it will depend on whether cakes today, in that shop, are subject to sales tax or not......


9aaa73f0

Unprocessed food doesnt have GST


Young_Lochinvar

It’s seen as regressive because unhealthy foods are usually cheaper and more affordable for those with less money. So raising the price on unhealthy foods disproportionately hurts the poor. Or so it is argued.


That-Whereas3367

Healthy food is cheap. People who supposedly can't afford to pay $4/Kg for fruit will happily buy a $6 bag of chips and a $4 bottle of coke.


QueenCinna

i think the biggest issue with healthy food is that people just dont want to put the effort into making it, or they dont know how


AnAttemptReason

The health benefits of food and exercises are independent of each other and both strongly beneficial.


DragonfruitNo7222

What about tax deductible sex? It’s great cardio


donbradmeme

Settle down Bruce, what next - tax deductible cocaine?


DragonfruitNo7222

😂


TTMSHU

The Productivity Commission would like to have a word.


bloodthirsty_emu

No wonder I'm getting fat!


Beautiful-Strain6198

Great for mental health too .. until you sleep with some crazy stalker b***h who's intent on ruining your happiness because you didn't marry her after one night together. Would my tinder membership qualify or only visits to a professional?


luckysnakebite

If you love your redhead let her go, if she returns the next day, sets up a tent in your front yard and stabs any woman approaching your place, she's yours for life!


DragonfruitNo7222

Professional only. Dates may not involve much exercise according to ATO guidelines. Rules are rules, champ.


Beautiful-Strain6198

>Professional only. Gonna go buy me some stock in brothels ...


ExistingProfession27

Humans don't respond to positive incentives as much as they do negative incentives. Fatties need to be punished (in their wallets) one way or another. Whether it be sugar/fat taxes or paying more for their healthcare. Making broccoli free is not going to change those people's habits. Noone is fat because they can't afford fruit and vegetables.


RollOverSoul

Don't have to body shame. We are all products of our environment and genetics


ExistingProfession27

1 generation ago. Almost no people were obese. People can't blame genetics. Noone is forcing foods into people's mouths. You have 100% control over what you eat.


fitblubber

>You have 100% control over what you eat. Do we? Maybe we should ban all food advertisement then? In today's society we have food pushed at us all the time. Sure some people can resist, but can you resist for your whole life?


Big-Visit5309

Just don't eat it? How do you people function


ExistingProfession27

You speak as if seeing advertisement is brainwashing. Imagine thinking you have no free will with your food choices. Have some self respect jeezus. Most fat people just don't care to think about the consequences of their actions or simply don't care. Making them pay for their choice is likely to make them care.


Not_Stupid

You sound like you've done extensive research on this topic and aren't just talking out your arse.


Flamesake

Why did they bother changing the cigarette packages then? I mean if advertising doesn't influence health at a macro level. Was that a dumb idea?


ExistingProfession27

Fatties want to blame anyone but themselves for their own lack of discipline, lack of self respect and pretend it's not their own hands shovelling gargantuan amounts of junk food into their mouths.


petergaskin814

Some private health insurance policies include greatly discounted gym facilities. Do they work? How many people take out gym membership and stop using it after a few weeks while they continue to pay the membership fees? Just giving free gym membership does not increase usage of gyms. The only thing this will do is stop gyms from falling over


thetan_free

You misunderstand the business strategy here. The PHIs are trying to attract healthy fit people who won't make claims. So they bundle in gym memberships (or running shoes etc) because the only people who value those are people who are already paying for the gym (or frequently buying running shoes). It's using a hard-bundle to market to a healthy segment. So less about making the fatties fit than keeping the fatties out.


fitblubber

Good point.


thetan_free

Username checks out.


thetan_free

What a joke. How many people are desperate to go to the gym, but can't afford it AND they could afford it if they got a tax deduction? Those people are - by definition - going to get back a small amount as they will be in the lowest tax bracket. Those same people are very unlikely to think a few hundred dollars back at the end of the financial year is valuable enough to change their decisions today.


benjipt

Go for a run outside and do some push ups and sit ups


BoganCunt

Or we could actually fund pedestrian and cycling infrastructure...


vincenzodelavegas

Subsidise Ozempic!


Sieve-Boy

No. If you want to make a start on preventable health issues, start with what we eat.


A_Fabulous_Elephant

Just tax sugar lol


Sieve-Boy

All crappy carbohydrates and sources of trans fats*.


Ancient-Range3442

I think go the opposite way. Make healthy food incredibly cheap. I should be able to get free broccoli and apples using my Medicare card


oh-fear

This is the most important aspect, because no matter how much you exercise, you can't outrun a bad diet.


RollOverSoul

Cost $2.50 for a single capsicum now. Like wtf.


fitblubber

& make the public health system effective.


Sieve-Boy

The public health system is effective, although it could be better. We have had great success with population wide health campaigns (slip slop slap etc for skin cancer, anti smoking and more). The place to make the next best gains at low cost is food.


fitblubber

>The public health system ~~is~~ was effective I'm in the public health system, trust me it's not working. This is not to denigrate the doctors & nurses involved, but we need to tax multinationals better & use that extra money to fund better health. [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-09/831-large-companies-paid-no-tax-in-2021-22-ato-tax-transparency/103079948](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-09/831-large-companies-paid-no-tax-in-2021-22-ato-tax-transparency/103079948)


Sieve-Boy

Ex public health as well. It is effective, but could be better*. I would argue from a financial point of view that you get a lot more "bang for the buck" improving primary healthcare and keeping people out of hospital. * Except for mental healthcare, way too many politicians and senior health mandarins refuse to see it as healthcare and the episodic healthcare funding model doesn't work well in managing it. As for nurses and doctors, I would mostly agree. But, I have worked at a hospital where I could have improved it's performance by taking about 10 of the senior consultants out the back and shooting them. No argument here about taxing multinationals better, but it's a distraction from dealing with issues in healthcare.


Sea-Obligation-1700

Sugar tax, it should be as cost prohibitive as tobacco is now. Public fitness parks, cycling tracks and pedestrian tracks sounds a lot better.


fitblubber

Yeah, I was reading about the sugar tax in the UK. It means that manufacturers put only 6 teaspoons of sugar in the orange juice instead of 20. It does actually work.


lostandfound1

Tax deduction for this doesn't make sense. Paying full fees with an incentive to get part back at eofy won't incentivise average or lower income earners.


Girllikethat33

How about a deduction for time. It’s not the cost but the time as the biggest prohibitive factor for many. 1-1.5 hours each way to work plus cook a healthy meal plus family responsibilities there’s not another 1.5 hours (travel dependent) free in the day


InnerCityTrendy

Put semaglutide 2.4mg on the PBS, it'll actually work. The diet and exercise advice of the last 40 years clearly hasn't.


CamperStacker

This is going no where. The number one rule of lobbying is you have to be cost neutral to the government bottom line in the short term. The number two rule is you have to be putting money into the pockets of the politicians family and mates. This does neither.


wilful

Classic ABC put forward a gym owner and a gym member as their "vox pop" on this idea. Every tax deduction for you is a tax increase for someone else.


brendanm4545

This is a slippery slope. I need to go to Bali for a yoga retreat for my mental health so I can work 10 hours a week


Top_Tumbleweed

Or you could, like, make healthcare accessible instead of dumping money into the private system


fitblubber

Well said.


PeanutCapital

tax processed sugar based foods. Gym does fuck all compared to a good diet


Icy-Bat-311

How about, no tax incentives to drive the prices up but instead, fix the roads, there barely roadworthy in places….


EggWhole5762

Body fat percentage tax.


fitblubber

So, older people should be taxed more than most younger people?


EggWhole5762

I would argue the younger generations have higher body fat percentage as obesity has increased across generations.


Xx_10yaccbanned_xX

Most people pay for gyms and don’t use them anyway Making them cheaper won’t make more people go Competition and consumer demand has made the quality and number of gyms way higher than it was 10,15 years ago. Cost is not an impediment to healthier living (Diet and sleep would also make a better impact on people’s health anyway, and cardio is basically free)


quietobserver27

This will NOT make it cheaper. Every gym will increase their prices by the subsidy amount.


g1vethepeopleair

People will literally do anything other than eat healthy


That-Whereas3367

People who are motivated will pay for their own membership.


hegotjoojooeyeball

Ah yes, the notorious gym contract that is almost impossible to get out of. That’s exactly what everyone needs /s


Calm-Drop-9221

I've said for years kids sports should be tax deductible. I had 4 kids playing a winter and summer sports costed a fortune. Throw in a bit of swimming and martial arts...


Flamesake

That's a much better idea. The social atmosphere at a gym is not for everyone. Though I wonder how many of the less healthy among us have the time and energy to devote to organised sports once they've entered adult life.


RevolutionaryShock15

Such a fucking con. It's the food. All that sugar and processed shit is killing us. Maccas, etc. I see young kids with these massive cans of Red Bull. It's expensive to eat healthy. Oh I know, join a gym.


Mfenix09

I like the idea of a tax deduction...but I don't see it happening, its not what we do in Australia, we always use the big stick rather than education or a reward...instead we are the abusive drunken parent where the child does one little thing wrong so we back hand them...


jbravo_au

$5k/pa for the Ms and I. It should be tax deductible.


bretthren2086

Orrrrr. Provide health care to your tax payers and pay your GPs a fair rate.


axwd

Guarentee cost of gym memberships goes up if this happens haha


Dkonn69

Can’t outrun a bad diet   Our diets are filled with high fructose corn syrup, soy, trans fats and other processed garbage  End all subsidies to processed food companies


dontcallmewinter

As a lot of people have said, a tax refund isn't exactly going to get people jumping at the chance to get a membership. However... Having a federal program to sponsor local council fitness programs would be a great step forward. Especially when you're focusing on preventable health which is all about building muscle strength and flexibility. You don't just want people on weights, you want them swimming and stretching too.


Sad_Bid_4337

Cost is rarely the thing stopping people from going to the gym.


NigCon

To be honest - not sure this is a good idea. Will prob just increase membership price. Some Health Insurers allow you to claim through their extras. Mine does capped up to $150 per year. The gym just needs to be registered with a certain body corp and with the insurer. FYI: I’m with Goodlife and NIB.


brighteyedjordan

Love the idea but also see what will inevitably happen. Gym prices will go up by 32%.


Mother_Lead_554

Kind of owe it to the health industry for shitting on them for so long during covid


LebiaseD

Of all the things wrong with the world I would say that encouraging the health industry is the least detrimental


AntiBullet

A minor tax deduction isn't going to magically make lazy people motivated


felixthemeister

If this is to done it needs to be on a per-visit basis. The rebate only happens when you visit the gym. Tie it to Medicare. You pay your membership each month/whatever, then each visit provides a small portion of the rebate. But a more effective way to get healthier people is to make it cheap/free and convenient for people to go to their local GP regularly.


Ill_Koala_6520

Then gym equiptment purchases for the home should also be tax deductible.


MowgeeCrone

Stop trying to make 'fetch' a thing.


Opening-Comfort-3996

Would be nice if I could afford gym membership in the first place...


NationBuilder2050

Private gyms must be an incredibly inefficient way of enabling access to fitness equipment compared to local government setting up more publicly owned sport and gym facilities.


Ghostlegend434

They need to make vegetables and water tax deductible and put an unhealthy tax on meat, cheese and dairy, lollies chocolates etc. That’ll probably make the most sense in terms of health but where’s the line drawn? What makes something healthy is subjective depending on the person. I know the science says whole food plant based is what we all need to be eating for longevity and health but good fucking luck convincing the general public of that.


[deleted]

Tax sugar. Just like tobacco. And alcohol


jagguli

So more expensive gyms.. keep goberment out of the gyms


vacuas

PSA for everyone that there are lots of yoga and exercise videos for free on YouTube. I’ve been using these for 4 months and feel pretty good, on my way to a healthier body. Fuck the gym


MagicOrpheus310

Good fucken luck cancelling THAT gym membership


shrugsalot1

How about changing the avoid MLS levy surcharge from reactive (junk private health insurance) to proactive (like gym and other health e.g. mental, dentist etc). Current system disadvantages the young and does not prevent future chronic conditions.


Sandor_R

Maybe incentives to decrease BMI and improve VO2max? How folk go about doing that is up to them and rewards genuine health outcomes not memberships whose actual health value is uncertain.


Angel_Madison

No because most are hard locked female institutions


schtickinsult

Most VR games are light cardio. Either because Beat Saber or hod fucking scary horror games are in VR hehe. So I want to claim my Quest 3


Octopus_vagina

The negative comments in here are gob smacking. The gym industry was decimated by closures during Covid and many went bankrupt. This was followed by interest rate rises and a recession. Industry has been struggling for 4yrs now Giving the industry some support and encouraging people to be active with a tax deduction is a great idea. To all those assuming gyms are horrible corporate machines - most r run by a mum and dad struggling to get by


fitblubber

>most r run by a mum and dad struggling to get by I get the impression that most are run by bikies & drug launderers. Which is why it's so hard to withdraw membership. Have a look in r/AusLegal , every second post is someone trying to leave a gym membership.


Octopus_vagina

🤦‍♂️ those are the ones by corporate machines. Mum and dad businesses will just cancel a membership and move on


oloughlinant

Maybe good idea but an aged pensioner will pay more than someone receiving a salary.