Some of my favorite Seattle yoga studios have announced that they will have to start charging a 9% sales tax on their classes. The reason? The state of Washington is suffering under the financial crisis and has decided to start defining yoga as a fitness exercise so they can collect sales tax.

Now, normally paying tax on a business operation is not something to get agitated about, but this new interpretation of the rule is problematic for two reasons:

1. As the Puget Sound Business Journal reports, regional Department of Revenue offices have applied this tax rule differently in the past. Some offices advised yoga studios to pay sales tax on yoga classes, while other offices did not. If a yoga studio hasn’t documented their efforts to comply in writing they may be liable to now pay back taxes for past years.
2. According to this new rule all yoga classes are classified as “fitness exercise” and put in the same bucket as spinning and step aerobics. Yes, yoga has a physical component and some classes focus more on this than others, but yoga is as much about the mental aspect. I suggest the state officials pick up a copy of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and look up Sutra 1.2: “The restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff is Yoga.”

This issue is not about trying to avoid taxation. Yoga teachers and studios already pay regular taxes like other small businesses. The problem here is using a fuzzy interpretation of a tax rule and a new definition of yoga to collect back taxes. (Personally I’m against taxation on all health services and classes, but that’s another post. Increase taxes on fast food, soda, candy, cigarettes and alcohol instead…)

King5 reports that the Department of Revenue is meeting with yoga industry representatives on November 19 to try to find a resolution. Yogis, please bring a few copies of Patanjali to hand out.

Oh, and I wasn’t going to mention it since it has nothing to do with the topic of this post, but I can’t help myself:

Go Obama!!