Heads up, everybody, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton has a new plan to pay for a Vikings stadium, and it doesn’t involve gambling of any kind at all. Well, not the fun kind of gambling where you can win cash prizes, anyway, but just gambling with your health: The state would take the first year’s $24.5 million windfall from a new cigarette tax and pour it into the stadium fund. And if gambling revenues continued to fall short, the state could tap $20 million a year from a new provision to get Minnesota-based corporations to pay their full taxes on in-state sales.
All of which is well and good, except that both of these taxes were already in the state budget plan, and expected to put money into Minnesota’s general fund. Dayton is only proposing to use them for the Vikings stadium — instead of the far simpler method of just appropriating money straight from the general fund — because he promised that no general fund money would go to the stadium, and since these are new taxes that haven’t hit the general fund yet … well, let’s let Minnesota Revenue Commissioner Myron Frans explain it:
“These are new revenues coming in to the state for the first time. And the same thing is true of the new electronic gaming situations for gambling, that was a new revenue source and it all goes into the general fund. It’s just that the Legislature designates some of those funds to be used for certain purposes.”
Yes, right, money is fungible, so it doesn’t really matter which pocket you take it from, we get that. None of this changes the fact that the gambling plans were put into place specifically to fund the stadium, while the cigarette and sales-tax provisions would be there to fund schools and such if the state doesn’t give the proceeds to the Vikings.
Though really, maybe the best way to look at this is that Frans has a point: All tax revenues could go to the general fund if you wanted them to, so no matter how you raise the money, a stadium subsidy is a public cost. In fact, the same thing goes for those e-pulltabs and e-bingo and all the other e-things that Minnesota is trying to use for stadium funding: The state could be using those revenues for other services if it wanted, too, so it’s not really found money, either. So really the way to look at this is that no matter how they end up paying for it — gambling, smoking, bake sales — Minnesota taxpayers are out $1.1 billion on the Vikings deal, and it doesn’t really matter how they pay for it, one way or another they’ll pay. Um, that was your point, right, Myron?
No, no, no! Specially designated lottery money is “free money” that appears out of thin air! ;)
“…would be there to fund schools and such if the state doesn’t give the proceeds to the Vikings.”
Or to lower taxes. Using the “it could be used for other things” argument generates a significant amount of “well, if they’re going to spend it, they may as well spend it on my Vikings” attitude.
Approval (from government individuals) in 2012 of the Vikings’ new stadium is no excuse to continue with tax dollars on this subject. The Vikings neither earned this money at work nor received it as a private gift. As such, they are not entitled to taxes on this project.
The Vikings’ bosses have a duty to cover costs for this ballpark. If they refuse such payments, then they should face any of the following options:
1. sell this franchise
2. transfer the team from Minnesota
3. keep the HHH Metrodome beyond 2013
4. utilize TCF Stadium for over two seasons
5. be thrown into prison and lose their money partially to the stadium
At the very least, this organization’s three thugs..Zygmunt Wilf, Mark Wilf, Lester Bagboy… should be forced to pay money that was originally slated from those lousy electronic pull tabs if they desire continued management with this organization. Either way, they deserve a harsh rebuke for their pursuit of money which is not their property!!!! Let’s either fix this crappy legislation from 2012 or cancel it!!!!!!
877-STADIUM-CASH-NOW
It’s my money, I’ll use it when I want to, taxpaying rubes!
You know, I think Dayton is on to something here…. now if only he could really become a progressive, and generate new tax revenues through installation of cigarette vending machines in elementary schools, hospitals (especially the cancer wards) and daycares, this really could be ‘new revenue’.
When will the revolution come? When will people realize that billionaires in our lands are now being handed far more than the royal family of France were given just prior to the French Revolution?
Why do billionaires deserve welfare? What great service has a sports team owner done for society that they should be rewarded so?
Let them eat cake, she said.
Too early to start taking bets on when the Timberwolves will become the new Sonics?
In all fairness, Arthur Blank is among those who has signed Buffet’s pledge to give away whatever percentage of his wealth. How much exactly Blank has given away and what it has actually gone to I have no idea. But at least he’s made a public pronouncement that he intends to be philanthropic.
Although if he doesn’t care to try to take his money with him when he dies, makes you wonder even more why he needs tax money to build his stadium.
“Too early to start taking bets on when the Timberwolves will become the new Sonics?”
Well, probably not too early to start taking bets on the Timberwolves threatening to become the new Sonics. But they may have to get in line behind the other teams that might want to use that threat. How do sports teams determine the order of who-gets-to-use-the-threat? If it’s alphabetical order, then doesn’t Milwaukee get to use the threat first? Or do multiple teams get to use the threat simultaneously?
This is getting e-diculous.
Dave, that’s the great thing about sports-extortion cartels… you only need one “opportunity” for every team to share. How many NFL teams have mumbled “Los Angeles” under their breath and had their current locations fall all over themselves to ‘save’ the franchise, despite the fact that LA has shown no real interest in building or contributing to a stadium for the NFL either before the last teams left or since?
I guess all that’s really needed is moronic and frightened elected officials. The threat of a move doesn’t even need to be remotely close to real (see: Edmonton Oilers, NYY, NYM, Chicago Cubs etc).
Sure, charities can have half the wealth of Blank when he’s blanked from living. Until then, he should keep accumulating wealth by getting a big public subsidy of the “for the people” stadium in Atlanta. Any other professional (american) football team is welcome to use the stadiums too, provided it’s not on Sundays or Monday or Thursday, and they don’t need to obscure the NFL field lines in any way.
ChiefJoe: Didn’t say it was good or bad. Someone asked why billionaires deserve welfare. I generally don’t think they do. Just pointing out that Blank has signed the pledge. The one doesn’t really impact the other beyond his theoretically being able to use the money he’s giving away to fund the stadium should he chose.
Fair enough, Michael. But if, for example, Blank has pledged to give away $2bn upon his death, yet is demanding $1bn in taxpayer subsidies today for one of his businesses, I would argue he isn’t necessarily giving away anything.
I’m not suggesting the numbers balance in Blank’s case, as I don’t know if that’s true. However, I don’t believe one should be creditted with great generosity based on something they might do when they die… nor if they are donating something and then effectively receiving fair market value in return.
The true hallmark of generosity is those who have relatively little giving while they are alive (which Blank appears to be doing, to be fair), not those for whom life has been very, very charmed promising to give when they no longer can spend money…
Eh, the sheep…I mean taxpayers, were gonna cough it up for the Vikes one way or another. As long as the labor unions, building materials suppliers, politicians at the trough and who ever else get their’s who cares about taxpayers who’ll never set foot in the place.
Getting a gold plated publicly funded palace built is mainly a matter of purchasing the right local politicians and whipping up fear among the rubes. I should know.
Do people from Minnesota love to smoke as much as Sacramento residents love to park?
The Timberwolves should move to St. Paul and play at the Xcel Energy Centre.
A wise man named Charlie Kelley once asked “philanthropist or full on rapist”?
I’m not quite sure, but they probably wont have a smoking section in this new stadium, which i could really care less, but this country preaches about being fair. How is it fair to tax smokers to pay for the stadium and not even have a smoking section, sounds to me like a government dictatorship