Florida Marlins Get $60 Million In Tax Dollars

The Florida Marlins are the winners. The losers is Florida taxpayers.

The bill to give the Florida Marlins $60-million for a new stadium passed the House by a 86-24 vote, despite opposition from some Democrats who viewed it as another corporate give-out. The bill, sponsored by Carlos Lopez-Cantera, would provide $2-million a year in sales tax rebate for 30 years - the same benefit currently enjoyed by other pro teams in Florida.

Dennis Coates and Brad Humphreys of the Cato Institute did a study on the the economic impact a major league baseball team has on the community. They found that the lease amount the Senators would pay would actually decrease with inflation. Taypayers would be forced to make up the difference to pay for stadium upkeep. Money spent buying food, clothing and parking would be spent in the D.C. community. Instead, the money profits the team without helping smaller mom & pop businesses.

Sports stadiums equal tax increases for the local community. Building a new sports area is money out of the pockets of taypayers. Politicians will say differently. If they told the truth people would be in revolt.

Finally, a "ballpark fee" will be imposed on the largest corporations in D.C. Whether it is a surcharge or an increase in the corporate income tax rate, this so-called fee is a tax increase, pure and simple. Moreover, this tax will fall on D.C. residents if they happen to be owners or employees of the affected businesses, or if they purchase the goods or services produced by those businesses. Thus, claiming that D.C. residents will not feel the burden of this corporate tax increase is disingenuous. Corporations do not pay taxes, people do. Whether it is in the form of lower wages for workers, lower asset values for corporate owners, or higher prices for cunsumers of the goods and services those companies provide, this tax increase will touch D.C. residents some way.

Republicans in the Florida House bitch about budgeting more money to meet the class-size amendment requirements. They don't flinch about a tax giveaway for for-profit sports franchase. It says much about where their true priorities are.