Oppose The Sin Tax!

[Bill Call]

http://www.coolcleveland.com/blog/2014/ ... clesintax/

[Charlie Page]

The new sin tax is a renewal of the old sin tax, so the amount stays the same. The same amount that built Progressive Field, the Q and First Energy Field. It's hard to believe they need the same amount to maintain these venues as it did to build them in the first place.

I heard on the news that pro sports in downtown Cleveland generated 400 million in various tax revenues. Why can't they use part of these tax revenues for the maintenance fund? It seems to me that those cities that benefit from the additional tax revenue should pay for the ongoing maintenance. BTW, maintenance should not mean replacing club lounge carpeting that gets used 10 times a year and looks brand new.

[Michael Deneen]

The three teams have banded together on this in order muddy the water.

The Browns Stadium (even if the team had been good) is a complete disaster and waste of money. Too much money was spent on a facility only used 11 or 12 times a year.

On the other hand, the Gateway project has definitely had a positive impact on downtown. The arena is used for lots of non-basketball stuff, and the baseball field is used 81 times per year.

I'm not strongly against the renewal for two reasons:

*Due to the poorly done original lease, the City of Cleveland is on the hook for this money if the sin tax expires. That would be horribly unfair, and would hit the one entity that can least afford it.

*Since it's a sin tax, it doesn't bother me like a straight sales tax. The draft beer at your local pub won't be one-tenth of a penny cheaper if this fails.

However, there are two things to keep in mind:

*Regardless whether this passes, the Browns will abandon that stadium after the 2028 season. They will demand a billion dollar (at least) domed facility with all the bells and whistles. Someone will build it for them, but it most likely won't be Cleveland.

*Regardless of whether this passes, the Indians are stuck in Cleveland. Baseball foolishly overexpanded to 30 teams in the 1990s, which means that there are no viable markets to move to. If there were, the Athletics or Rays would already be there.

[Grace O'Malley]

I'm voting NO if we get the chance.

[Jeff Dreger]

If the sin tax renewal fails and the city of Cleveland is on the hook for it, the city can turn around and charge a ticket/facility fee so that the people actually using the facilities are the ones paying for them. I don't smoke and I don't expect to see a lowering of beer prices. I'm voting no on principle.

[Bill Call]

That's the best solution.

If the sin tax renewal fails and the city of Cleveland is on the hook for it, the city can turn around and charge a ticket/facility fee so that the people actually using the facilities are the ones paying for them. .

A ticket tax is the best solution.

I'm suspicious of all of the claims of the huge economic benefits of tax payer subsidized stadiums. If they worked all that magic Detroit would be an economic powerhouse, Columbus would be a basket case and Cleveland taxpayers would not have to use tax dollars to subsidize their operation. Downtown looks good because the taxpayers spent $5 billion to make it look good. At what cost?

I'm growing weary of repeating this but if all of those taxpayer subsidized institutions were such economic power houses they wouldn't need taxpayer subsidies to survive.

Lakewood City Council and the Mayor should come out publically against the sin tax extension. It's time local government took a stand against the billions and billion of dollars in subsidies paid to the politically well connected.

Since the City embarked on that path the economy in the greater Cleveland area has only gotten worse.

[Grace O'Malley]

I'm growing weary of repeating this but if all of those taxpayer subsidized institutions were such economic power houses they wouldn't need taxpayer subsidies to survive

That's the heart of the matter. If you really believe in a free market economy, then any business that cannot be profitable will fail, and should fail. No sense propping them up with taxpayer money that ends up in some already rich person's pocket. Honestly, don't you think these teams and owners laugh their a$$es off at how easy it is to get money from us dupes?