Gulf Coast golf courses get the shaft from U.S. House of Reps

Gulf Coast golf courses are no different from a massage parlor, liquor store, casino or hot tub facility. At least not in the eyes of the U.S. House of Representatives.

In voting through a multibillion-dollar tax package of tax breaks to revive hurricane-destroyed businesses, the House excluded casinos and country clubs, two stalwarts of the region’s tourism industry.

According to the Associated Press, Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., said Congress should not allow ‘‘our constituents’ hard-earned tax dollars, in these kinds of record deficits, to subsidize the rebuilding of a massage parlor, a liquor store or a casino.’’

Or a golf course, it appears.

Actually, the whole issue of rampant cuts that’s going through Congress now is surreal, considering a budget deficit in the neighborhood of $300 billion a year. Face it, by 2010, all U.S. citizens will likely be required to work six months a year in Chinese mines to help repay the deficit. They can call it “Freedom Digging.”

But that’s neither here nor there. Few can dispute the need for tax relief for areas of the Gulf Coast, which saw so much of its coastal area just obliterated. In the House bill, the incentives for Gulf Coast commerce include tax credits and myriad deductions for low-income housing and rehabilitating commercial structures and historic buildings, as well as tax breaks would help businesses recoup cleanup and demolition costs and aid small timber operations with reforestation.

Gulf Coast golf courses aren’t completely screwed yet, as the bill will get some Senate revising, and there has already been opposition to leaving out “leisure industries” from the tax breaks.

Regardless, the House’s actions shine a spotlight on the trickle down effect of legislating morality: ‘‘our constituents’ hard-earned tax dollars, in these kinds of record deficits, to subsidize the rebuilding of a massage parlor, a liquor store or a casino.’’

Or a golf course?

–WKW