Should taxpayers help finance pro sports stadiums? Virginia considered an unsuccessful proposal for a taxpayer-financed sports arena last year. Now, a bill in Congress would limit how public money could be used for private gain.
Congressman Don Beyer is a Democrat from Alexandria who is working with Wisconsin Republican Glenn Grothman on a bill they're calling the No Tax Subsidies for Stadiums Act. The idea is to eliminate the tax-exempt status for bonds that finance sports facilities. But Heywood Sanders at the University of Texas says most of the money for these things comes from state and local governments.
"These things have a remarkable capacity to generate a kind of unbounded enthusiasm and hope,: Sanders says. "Nibbling away at the tax-exempt status of the bonds that typically support them is unlikely to stop the rush."
Greg LeRoy at Good Jobs First says eliminating the tax-exempt status for bonds is a really good start.
"If we had a powerful signal from Uncle Sam saying we have more important things to do with federal money than make franchise owners richer," LeRoy says. "That would be a very powerful and positive signal and help governors and mayors find more gumption on this issue."
Last year, Virginia's Republican governor worked with the mayor of Alexandria, a Democrat, on an unsuccessful proposal that would’ve used taxpayer dollars to help construct a sports arena in Alexandria. The proposal eventually flopped when the Senate Finance chairwoman rejected the idea and the owner of the sports teams got a better deal from D.C.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
