October 07, 2004
Williams: Let them have cake and eat it
Yesterday the stick, today the carrot: A day after accusing stadium opponents of "populist grandstanding," D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams played to the crowd himself, suggesting that he could raise $20 million a year toward "community benefits" to ease the sting of spending twice that amount on an Expos baseball stadium. "My goal would be to try to generate around $20 million that could then yearly go into a community benefits package," said Williams. "I'm not fixed on what exactly it's got to go to, as long as it goes to things the community thinks are important."
According to the Washington Post, Williams insisted that the money could be raised without taxing residents, without specifying how exactly he'd manage that. One possible solution, suggested by D.C. councilmember Jim Graham: Use any surplus in the dedicated stadium taxes to fund social programs. One problem: Under the current plan, that surplus is supposed to go to retiring the bonds early. Another problem: It's also there as a buffer so that bond buyers don't freak out about potential cost overruns or revenue shortfalls. A third problem: It's extremely unlikely the surplus would be as much as $20 million a year.
Graham also suggested increasing the business-tax portion of the stadium bill, to free up stadium sales-tax funds to use for other purposes. With local businesses already not entirely thrilled about the stadium tax, this should go over real well - not that D.C. businesses should be setting tax policy, but if Williams' argument is that this tax isn't lost city revenue because businesses would only accept it for a stadium, why would they be okay with using it to free up other taxes for non-baseball uses?
