[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 71 (Wednesday, May 1, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E518]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         INTRODUCTION OF THE NO TAX SUBSIDIES FOR STADIUMS ACT

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                          HON. EARL BLUMENAUER

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 1, 2019

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Madam Speaker, today I introduced the No Tax 
Subsidies for Stadiums Act of 2019. This bipartisan legislation returns 
hundreds of millions of dollars a year to American taxpayers by 
disallowing the tax-exemption for municipal bonds used to finance 
professional sports stadiums.
  For more than a century, the federal government has supported state 
and local infrastructure projects by excluding the interest on 
municipal bonds from federal income taxes. Qualified projects eligible 
for a tax-exemption include roads, sewers and water systems, hospitals, 
schools, governmental buildings, and other projects for the public 
good. However, a loophole in the tax code allows billionaire owners of 
sports franchises to use public money to construct stadiums using tax-
exempt municipal bonds.
  For the first half of the twentieth century, professional sports 
franchises privately-funded the construction of most stadiums. But 
beginning in 1953, when the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee, most 
professional sports franchises have used public financing to construct 
or rehabilitate their privately-owned stadiums. Since 2000, 36 
professional sports stadiums have been constructed or rehabilitated 
under financing provided by federal tax-exempt municipal bonds, costing 
taxpayers nearly $4 billion. While professional sports teams promise 
state and local governments that their stadiums will produce local 
economic development and job creation, there is no quantifiable 
evidence that they provide these benefits. Public financing creates a 
race to the bottom where teams worth hundreds of millions, or even 
billions, of dollars have all the leverage to exploit city budgets for 
their own gain. Too often, these subsidies also create budgetary 
constraints that result in offsetting cuts to critical public safety 
and economic security programs.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House and Senate 
to pass this legislation and end the practice of subsidizing 
billionaires' sports franchises.

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