Monday, October 22, 2007
Sports Teams to Pitch In?
The City Controller’s office has issued a new report that asks the Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins to extend payments in lieu of taxes to the City as a way of helping Pittsburgh’s finances and maybe connecting them with their tax-exempt brethren in the City’s Public Service Fund.
If anything else, this report might help the public understand that when an official makes the claim that “33 percent of the City’s land is tax-exempt” that person (knowingly or unknowingly) is taking into account a lot more than just the non-profit community, more than just hospitals and universities. In the case of the sports teams, they are for-profit entities who happen to play in facilities that are tax-exempt due to ownership by the Sports and Exhibition Authority, a government agency that does not pay property taxes.
And that’s the case with this debate: it is more than just the non-profits, it is various levels of government and their instrumentalities, from authorities like the SEA to Parking, Housing, etc.
No doubt that if this suggestion becomes a near reality that the teams will be quick to point out the numerous economic benefits they deliver and their contributions to the City’s taxes on amusements and parking. Those aren’t small amounts. But if City officials accept their line of reasoning, aren’t they also obligated to accept the spin-off benefits of the universities and hospitals, as well as the other non-profits?
If anything else, this report might help the public understand that when an official makes the claim that “33 percent of the City’s land is tax-exempt” that person (knowingly or unknowingly) is taking into account a lot more than just the non-profit community, more than just hospitals and universities. In the case of the sports teams, they are for-profit entities who happen to play in facilities that are tax-exempt due to ownership by the Sports and Exhibition Authority, a government agency that does not pay property taxes.
And that’s the case with this debate: it is more than just the non-profits, it is various levels of government and their instrumentalities, from authorities like the SEA to Parking, Housing, etc.
No doubt that if this suggestion becomes a near reality that the teams will be quick to point out the numerous economic benefits they deliver and their contributions to the City’s taxes on amusements and parking. Those aren’t small amounts. But if City officials accept their line of reasoning, aren’t they also obligated to accept the spin-off benefits of the universities and hospitals, as well as the other non-profits?
