Between subsidies for new stadiums, tax loopholes you can drive a Formula One sports car through, cable television charges to cover the cost of broadcasting a variety of sports channels, Americans and their European brethren are providing a lot of support for highly paid athletes, the corporations that bankroll them and the billionaires who control them.
As the following article explains, however, the biggest tax of all may come in the form of bigger student-teacher ratios, older educational equipment or school buildings and, most ironic of all, cancelled after-school athletic programs, all of which have been sacrificed to the national obsession with professional and college sports entertainment. JLDavid Sirota comments in Salon:
At a time of reduced household income, a series of sports levies are hitting taxpayers where it hurts most. When it comes to sports and taxes, I’m like most Americans. I like downing a beer and watching a good game every now and again, and I’m fine with paying my fair share of taxes for genuine societal necessities. What I’m not OK with is paying a skyrocketing Sports Tax at a time of burgeoning deficits, reduced household income and serious cutbacks to social safety net programs.
That term – Sports Tax – is not hyperbolic. In a month that saw Louisiana fork over $5 million to the NFL for the privilege of helping that league make big Super Bowl money, Sports Tax is the most accurate catch-all label for the four sets of levies the public is being made to shell out.
The first Sports Tax comes from the higher taxes we all pay in order to fund direct handouts. Just as NFL owners convinced Louisiana politicians to give them that $5 million taxpayer subsidy, similar collusions between team owners and lawmakers have been forcing taxpayers everywhere to do much the same. In all, Bloomberg Businessweek reports that “taxpayers have committed $18.6 billion since 1992 to subsidies for the NFL’s 32 teams, counting the expense of building stadiums, forgone real estate taxes, land and infrastructure improvements, and interest costs on public bonds.” That’s almost $1 billion every year – and that’s just for football, meaning the figure isn’t even counting similar handouts for other leagues.
The second Sports Tax comes in the form of a rigged tax code, which effectively compels honest taxpayers to bankroll professional teams. As Republican Sen. Tom Coburn detailed in a report last year, the NFL, NHL, PGA (among others) use special provisions in that code “to exempt themselves from federal income taxes on earnings.” The report concluded that because of this, “Taxpayers may be losing at least $91 million subsidizing these tax loopholes for professional sports leagues that generate billions of dollars annually in profits.”
The third Sports Tax is embedded in your cable television bill. Though this levy is not itemized on your bill, the Los Angeles Times reports that up to half of your total cable payment is “for the sports channels packaged into most services.” That’s because the sports stations tend to charge significantly higher rates than other outlets, and yet are automatically included in most basic cable packages, thereby preventing ratepayers from opting out. The result is a tax obligating those who do not watch sports to subsidize those who do.
The final Sports Tax hits you two ways: First when your annual taxes go to support higher education and then when you or your kids pay ever-higher tuition rates. In both situations, your cash is typically subsidizing large schools’ sprawling athletic departments. That’s right – thanks in part to multi-million-dollar coaching salaries, 93 percent of those departments bring in less money than they spend, meaning you are paying a Sports Tax to make up the difference.
The point here, of course, is not to denigrate sports or to slam our nation’s obsession with them. Having grown up in the midst of Philadelphia sports mania, I have an enduring respect for sports fans, and, as I mentioned before, I consider myself one of them.
But being a fan doesn’t mean one must see the Sports Tax as acceptable. It is anything but. In most cases, it is a rip off, and even in the best circumstances, it has become an unaffordable extravagance. After all, even the most die-hard fan should be able to admit that while games are important, they are not more significant than other priorities that we are shortchanging.
2 comments:
I agree that subsidizing sports seems out of line in times of difficulty. But the numbers you are discussing are small compared to many subsidies in other industries. And while I agree all companies should be subject to the same taxation requirement as every SME and sole proprietor, it is also important to realize that the sports industry is a massive income generator for society. And it keeps people happy, which can be important in times of economic difficulty.
This is not meant to be a justification of what you describe. Only that there are other distortions of truth in the tax code that are larger and perhaps more relevant. After all, if you don't like the sports tax, don't watch, it won't kill you. If you don't want to pay cable TV fees for sports, don't order cable. Many people don't even own a TV and use their time playing sports rather than watching them (also a healthy option). So by participating you are condoning.
Last I checked we were not yet mandated to spend money on services. Its still a free country and we can give up cable if we want. We can also give up sugar soft drinks or even go off the grid to make a statement. Thats the freedom of choice we all enjoy in the USA.
The issue I take - and that I believe the accompanying article highlights - is that many of these subsidies are hidden. They are imposed quietly and often in return for political favors. Were the processes by which these hidden taxes are instituted more transparent or, heaven forfend, people could actually vote on them, I suspect there would be a more rigorous analysis of costs and benefits as well as, perhaps, a more creative and productive approach to financing the activities that so many clearly enjoy.
Post a Comment