Taxation in Massachusetts

In the Town of Belmont, attention turned to Belmont Country Club, tax-exempt since 1945,^[11] which received close to $4 million in tax breaks in the last ten years.^[12] On November 13, 2023, the Town of Belmont held a town hall meeting which approved a citizen-brought motion by a vote of 229-3, with one abstention, to end the 61B exclusion for the Belmont Country Club.^[13] The citizens, taxpayers, were dissatisfied that the Belmont Country Club had received more than $4 million in tax breaks in the past ten years due to Chapter 61B provisions.

The Home Rule Petition, which seeks to exclude the town of Belmont from the provisions of 61B, was filed in the 194th session (2025) as Bill HD.1618, a bill entitled "An Act updating the tax treatment of recreational lands in the town of Belmont." The bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Brownsberger and Rep. Rogers. On July 15, 2025, a hearing with the Joint Committee on Revenue was held, that committee extending its reporting date to Friday, June 26, 2026.^[14]

On Monday, March 11, 2024, at a town hill meeting in Swampscott, MA, the vote was in favor of exempting the Tedesco Country Club from the provisions of 61B, a discussion that was led by Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald.^[15] A Home Rule Petition that seeks to exclude the town of Swampscott from the provisions of 61B was filed in the 194th Session (2025) as Bill H.3917, a bill entitled "An Act updating the tax treatment of recreational lands in the town of Swampscott." The bill was co-sponsored by Rep. Balinsky Armini and Rep. Crighton. On Oct. 22, 2025, the Joint Committee on Revenue reported the bill favorably and referred it to the committee on House Steering, Policy and Scheduling."

Attention in Newton, MA, is being turned to its three golf courses, the Brae Burn Country Club, Woodland Golf Club, and Charles River Club of Auburndale. Newton City Councilor Vicky Danberg has stated, "I can tell you very few people have sympathy for the poor golfers from these clubs who are crying poverty."^[16] Former president of Newton's firefighters' union Frannie Capello said Newton's country clubs will often open up their courses once a year to the city's firefighters. While firefighters much appreciate that, he said, he didn't think it was worth the revenue lost to the city, citing the City 's struggle to find ways to pay for much needed repair of fire stations.^[16] Responded one reader, “No one is asking them to fold, and given the wealth of the members, that will never happen. All anyone is asking is that they pay their fair share, just like small local businesses and residents do.”^[16]

In January 2026, Maplegate Golf Course, a 140-acre 18-hole public golf course taxed under 61B, was sold for under $25.million to a private developer who plans to turn the land into a solar field. It is expected that the end of the 61B tax incentive will bring Franklin an additional $280,000 annually in tax revenue.^[17][18]

In a guest column, the Wellesley Country Club in Wellesley was criticized in 2011 for its embrace of the 61B tax subsidy.^[19]

In Belmont, on March 9, 2026, a citizen petition to exempt the town from Chapter 61B tax classifications for private country clubs was presented to the Finance Committee, who declined to take a position on it.^[20]

Massachusetts country clubs taking advantage of the 61B tax are also in Framingham and in Marlborough, such as the Marlborough Country Club.^[16] A private golf course, Marlborough Country Club is, however, open to the public Mondays and Tuesdays. The tax-exempt Sankaty Head Golf Club Inc.^[21] is open to the public during its off-season, from October to May. A private golf course in Needham, the Needham Golf Club, has 61B status for the golf course acreage and has also designated "Residents’ Days” for Needham residents who are not members of the club.^[22] It also supports the community with its non-profit Needham Golf Club Charities (NGCC) by providing funding to various Needham-based community and charitable organizations.^[23]

In Plymouth, MA, in 2025, the McSharry family, owners of the Atlantic Country Club, a 61B golf club, signed a purchase and sale agreement with Ben Virga, a Duxbury private developer, which was then held up by the town Select Board with evidence that the sale was not a bonafide offer, as the offer for the portion designated as recreational space, which the town has Right of First Refusal under 61B, far exceeded the value of the parcel. ^[24] The buyers subsequently, in April 2025, withdrew their offer.^[25] The McSharrys, over the past five years alone, received more than $120,000 in property tax breaks, according to town officials.^[26]

Not all Massachusetts golf clubs ask for the tax break. The Country Club, in Brookline, with two golf courses, does not.^[27] The Oakley Country Club, an 88-acre golf club in Watertown, pays its full tax bill.^[28]

Some have questioned whether golf courses promote the benefits to the environment of land "retained in substantially a natural, wild, or open condition or in a landscaped or pasture condition or in a managed forest condition under a certified forest management plan approved by and subject to procedures established by the state forester in such a manner as to allow to a significant extent the preservation of wildlife and other natural resources, including but not limited to, ground or surface water resources, clean air, vegetation, rare or endangered species, geologic features, high quality soils, and scenic resources" that the 61B law intended to protect.^[29]

Audubon International, for example, has developed an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses (ACSP), which provides guidance on six key environmental components:
• Site Assessment/Environmental Planning
• Wildlife and Habitat Management
• Chemical Use Reduction and Safety
• Water Conservation
• Water Quality Management
• Outreach and Education.

MassGolf, a 501(c)3 organization formed in 2018 and one of the largest state golf associations in the United States, promotes the ACSP program; 14 golf courses in Massachusetts have received this certification and are abiding by its guidelines.^[30] MassGolf also has a "Monarchs in the Rough" program which numerous public and private golf courses in Massachusetts and elsewhere have completed and received certification.

The program and certification is also endorsed by the United States Golf Association (USGA), which itself has its own program to promote sustainability^[31] that deal with topics such as written evironmental management plan, a proactive maintenance facility that minimizes risks To the environment, maintaining water quality that is good for wildlife and the environment that includes a vegetated buffer around water features that provide habitat for wildlife, and a undertaking tree inventory assessment.

• Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 61 Classification and Taxation of Forest Lands and Forest Products.