The leaders of the Coalition Against the Sin Tax (C.A.S.T.) met on the steps of City Hall this morning to discuss a more specific plan of action. Their idea: Bring a ballot initiative to the voters later this year, one that would seek to institute a $3.25 facility fee on all tickets for for-profit events at Quicken Loans Arena, Progressive Field, and First Energy Stadium. The fee, C.A.S.T. spokesman and local entrepreneur Alan Glazen says, would offset any need to go through with the proposed 20-year extension on the sin tax (up for a vote as Issue 7 on the May 6 ballot).
No other members of the press were around, though a cameraman was seen setting up shop off to the side about 20 minutes into the event.
Glazen and the rest of C.A.S.T. contend that the sin tax extension has been shrouded in malicious PR and opaque corporate welfare from the get-go. The Keep Cleveland Strong campaign, which asserts between its lines that Cleveland will be weakened if the sin tax is not extended, is suggesting that voters extend the tax on booze and cigarettes for another 20 years, well beyond the actual leases of the three teams. The sin tax (or, really, excise tax) was originally approved in 1990 to fund construction of the three sports arenas and later extended in 1995.
Opponents of the current sin tax renewal efforts point out that the original intent of the tax has long passed into the history books. In fact, aside from HVAC repairs and new scoreboards and the like, team owners haven’t really been able to explain the need for this new tax money. The city is obligated to pay for repairs, but the sin tax crowd has bulldozed over any attempt at discussing alternative funding sources for those obligations.
Enter C.A.S.T. and their path toward the ballot box.
“It was the Cavs’ idea. They are the ones who came up with the idea of a facility fee in the first place,” Glazen says. “But they keep the money. Our idea is to impose the facility fee, but the city gets the money to meet the needs of our leases.” He points out that more than half of all event attendees at the arenas come from outside Cuyahoga County and would therefore not be paying into the sin tax on a regular basis. Glazen also adds that the notion of a facility fee takes the financial obligation of the leases and drops it in the hands of the people who actually use the arenas in question.
The group is in the process of gathering the 5,000 required signatures in order to get this measure to the voters.
Sin tax proponents, including City Council members, wealthy business owners, and the editorial board of the city’s only daily newspaper, have asserted that a facility fee such as the one C.A.S.T. is proposing would “punish” local families and spark rampant job losses throughout the entertainment economy.
Much like the argument that is taking hold that a “no” vote on the sin tax measure would drive Cleveland’s sports teams out of the city, the Keep Cleveland Strong rhetoric has no basis in reality. C.A.S.T. leaders point out, again, that the Q already imposes a facility fee. Likewise, the Cleveland Indians authored their own study (subsequently fawned over by The Plain Dealer) that showed families spend upwards of $40 outside the ballpark every time they come to a game. To wit, the fan base already attending games downtown is not one to be deterred by tangential costs.
At the very least, Glazen says, a “no” vote on May 6 does no harm whatsoever to the city. Dissent will only prompt further discussion/negotiation and a working chance at pursuing alternative funding sources for the city’s lease obligations.
This article appears in Apr 23-29, 2014.
There is already an 8% admissions tax. The Q’s facility fee is used to fund the operation during concerts. This “article” has no basis in reality.
This issue is the absurdity of absurdities. Let me get this straight: the purpose of the Sin Tax is to gouge those who purchase alcohol and cigarettes not because anyone is trying to discourage consumption but rather so the County can use that money to pay for sports stadiums that do not produce anything but a fleeting moment witnessing the passing of a football, the dribbling of a basketball and the throwing of a baseball so that such a minute tidbit of diversion can be enjoyed by all. The stupidity of this proposition is enough to make your head spin even though the spin doctors advocating passage of this nonsense are already doing a pretty good job of hypnotizing the voters to actually consider supporting it. At least the Robber Barons of the previous centuries provided something tangible such as oil, steel, railroads etcetera. These team owners do not even provide one tangible thing that could ever be considered with the term “value added.” Almost everyone discusses this “enterprise” as though it is the same thing as industry {which it is not}. The price of admission is essentially a voluntary tax paid by those who can afford it to pay those who don’t need it. If this isn’t a transfer of wealth I don’t know what is.
The real outrage here is the fact that taxes on alcohol and cigarettes will not be used to aid in the reduction of addiction {hence the reference to “sin”} but rather to stuff the pockets of all three teams who could easily afford to pay for the repairs themselves. The vote was rammed through the last time {under somewhat suspicious circumstances} and hear we go again. But this time…not so fast!!! We the voters of Cuyahoga County are going to fight the proponents on this one and we don’t care if the teams up and go somewhere else {please see my views on entertainment below} because quite frankly there are simply more important things than sports and the unearned money that comes with it. Those in public office who are too stupid and lazy to find other ways to grow a major American city need to resign and leave their self-seeking political ambitions on the scrapheap of history. Don’t ever let it be said that this was time when the tide ran out on Cuyahoga County but rather was the time when the voters rose up to welcome the rising tide of change and rebuked this pathetic paradigm our previous elected leaders embraced. Let the battle be joined.
And now to the real underlying issue at hand:
One of the most disturbing facts about our capitalist nation is the misappropriation of funds directed to the salaries of entertainers. Everyone should agree that the value an athlete, movie star, talk-show host, team-owner, etcetera brings to the average citizen is very small. Granted, they do offer a minuscule of diversion from our daily trials and tribulations as did the jesters in the king’s court during the middle ages. But to allow these entertainers to horde such great amounts of wealth at the expense of more benevolent societal programs is unacceptable. They do not provide a product or a service so why are they rewarded as such?
Our society is also subjected to the “profound wisdom” of these people because it equates wealth with influence. Perhaps a solution to this problem and a alternative to defeated school levies, crumbling infrastructures, as well as all the programs established to help feed, clothe and shelter those who cannot help themselves would be to tax this undeserved wealth. Entertainers could keep 1% of the gross earnings reaped from their endeavor and 99% could be deposited into the public coffers.
The old ideas of the redistribution of wealth have failed, and it is time to adapt to modern-day preferences. People put their money into entertainment above everything else; isn’t it time to tap that wealth? Does anyone think this will reduce the quality of entertainment? It seems to me that when entertainers received less income, the quality was much higher.
The facility fee idea is destined to fail.
All of you cowards posting under phony names have no sense or credibility.
No one sells more alcohol than these teams, at outrageous prices.
They are the biggest liquor lobby in the state!
So far, everyone I’ve met who supports Issue 7 gets paid to say so.
This idea is, BY FAR, the fairest of all things proposed and everyone I have talked to said the would vote yes, and most of these people attend a few games a year. Their opinion is, “I’m going to the game, I should pay.” As far as the admissions tax mentioned by the anonymous poster above…your point? The admissions tax isn’t going away (thank you Cleveland City Council) and the Q already charges an admissions tax on non-pro sports events. We are seeking a fair, line-itemed facility fee dedicated for maintaining the properties. The Cavs say they already have one priced into their tickets, so separate it so we can see it and monitor where it’s going and for what!
fee no fee whatever.
No. More. Tax breaks. For. Billionaires.
We should have a “sin tax”….for the other 99% of us. The county roads are destroyed and cleveland has no revenue to pay for freaking port-a-potties on gameday tailgates.
This makes sense, so of course everyone in Cuyahoga county voted the opposite way.