Opinion
Commentary
Users tax may be only way to save the Twins
By Don Heinzman A sports stadium bill has to pass this legislative session, or Minnesota will lose the Minnesota Twins and eventually the Minnesota Vikings. With all the budget difficulties at the Legislature, it may seem unnecessary to discuss how to fund a $350 million baseball stadium, but the reality is this is the last chance to do it. Through skillful court maneuvers that delayed contraction of the Minnesota Twins, the state has one last chance to put a stadium bill together. More people polled say they want the Twins to stay, while many are adamant about the use of general tax dollars for a stadium. The fact is no baseball owner will come to Minnesota and pay the entire costs of building a stadium. Owners will go to a state where there is a partnership between the government and private interests. Governor Jesse Venturaís plan, devised by Pam Wheelock, his finance commissioner, may be the breakthrough the public and the legislators are looking for. Under that plan, the baseball club would pay $165 million, the state would issue the bonds totaling $330 million, which would be partially paid for by investing the gift money. The Twins under the plan would then pay the remaining interest.There is a good chance this plan will be the basis for financing a new stadium, because no public tax money is involved. User taxes make sense to the public. Those who buy memorabilia, tickets, and pay the parking fees should pay the cost of selling bonds to pay for half the stadium. In this context, the House Tax Committeeís plan to tax newspaper and magazine subscriptions appears to be punitive and not in line with good tax policy, because outstate weekly newspapers print little or no information about the Twins and the Vikings. The Senate Bill makes more sense which is to spend up to $370 million on the stadium, with the owners paying half the cost and bonds paid for by user taxes such as 13 percent on sports memorabilia paying the other half. One controversial feature, yet important to legislators looking for cover, is the referendum. In the Senate plan, host city voters would have to approve a new tax on liquor and entertainment, while the house plan would have voters approve a plan state wide and another referendum by voters in the host city. These referendum features are meant to attract enough legislatorsí votes to pass something. They will, however, make passing this measure much more difficult. There are those who say a ball park should be built by the owners, but since the talk of contraction, the public appears ready to accept a users kind of tax and not a general tax. No matter what the opponents say, the loss of professional sports will be felt by a state that prides itself in its quality of life.
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