If you live in Sacramento County, the loud ‘sucking sound’ you hear is an alliance of billionaires and bureaucrats who are salivating at the thought of gauging county taxpayers with a new 1/4 cent increase in the local sales tax — and for what?  

Well, according to a story that was first reported below by ace Sacramento Area FR Correspondent Joe Justin and also now appears on the Sacramento Bee website, the tax would provide public funding for a new stadium/arena for the Sacramento Kings, and also provide addition funds into the hands of local politicians to spend as they see fit.  Specifically $1.2 billion or so is projected to be raised by this tax increase, with half of it going to build the new sports event facility, and the other half going, "to the city and county governments to spend as they wish" (seriously, that is exactly what the article says!).

The Maloofs (pictured to the right), you know, the BILLIONAIRES who own a lot of big holdings, including the Sacramento Kings basketball franchise, would put down $20 million up front, and ultimately pay for just under a third of the costs of building this facility.  I don’t know how all of those details pencil out, but probably unsaid would be the big bucks that they will be spending on the political campaign to pass the sales tax.  And why not?  What kind of rich people wouldn’t want to get the taxpayers to foot the bill for their for-profit NBA team? 

This is the latest in a trend where wealthly owners of sporting teams are not merely content to try to keep government out of their business (which I largely support) — but seem intent on getting taxpayer subsidies to add to their vast fortunes.  

How about this for an idea — if the Maloof brothers can’t pen out a business plan for their ball team that includes financing a new arena for their team, then — don’t.  Maybe it’s time to rethink whether to stay in the existing arena, or maybe its time for them to leave town all together.  As a matter of fact, if I were a Sacramento County voter, I would cast my "no" vote on this tax increase, and usher the Maloofs and their team on their way.

The Foundation for Economic Education (a great libertarian think-tank that is linked on our blog roll) has ‘timeless classic’ essays, and there just happens to be on one the phenomenon of for-profit sports teams who look to get taxpayers on the hook to fund their facilities.  In the case of the piece I am linking to (here), Raymond Keating pens an essay called, "Pro Sports on the Dole," which is worth a read.

I’m sure that more details will emerge on this ‘deal’ struck in the wee hours — but you can be sure that one thing won’t change, Sacramento County taxpayers are going to be asked to tax themselves, and anyone else who purchases anything in their county, to have money confiscated via a sales tax to pay for professional sports.  Lame.

Here’s an idea — the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors will consider this ‘deal’ and the placing of the tax on the ballot at their first meeting in August.  Let’s see if they have the political courage to tell the Maloofs — you wan’t an arena — go buy one!

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 20th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.