May 31, 2005
Pay no attention to the money behind the curtain
Today's Newsday has a good overview of the state of the New York Jets stadium controversy. There won't be much new to FoS readers, but one tidbit does jump out:
Still another element of the plan is the state's $300 million commitment. After requests from state legislative leaders about the income required to back the bonds, Pataki's aides said last week that the stream may come from income taxes.Charles Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, the state's development agency, said revenue generated by the stadium would easily cover the city and state debt."Player salaries alone is a huge amount of income tax," Gargano said. "And then you have sales tax on tickets ..."
That's the first I've heard of state income and sales taxes being discussed for the state's share - recall that last fall, Gargano was talking of having the city pay the state's share and then reimbursing it under the table. Using income and sales taxes, by contrast, would require a legislative appropriation, and the legislature has wrapped up its budget for the year, so who knows what the governor's people are smoking on this one.
In possibly related news, the corporate-subsidy watchers at Good Jobs New York report that the city Industrial Development Agency has pulled a discussion of tax breaks for the greater Hudson Yards project (which would surround the Jets stadium) that had previously been on its June 9 agenda. Almost five years into this mess, and it's just as mysterious as ever just who the heck would be paying for it.
