National Citizen Group Warns Mayor Williams: Taxpayer-Financed Stadium Sure to Strike Out with DC Residents

7/25/2003

From: Paul Gessing, Pete Sepp, or Maureen Tell, 703-683-5700, all of the National Taxpayers Union

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 25 -- Just days after Arlington officials reiterated objections to a proposed baseball stadium in Northern Virginia, the non-partisan National Taxpayers Union (NTU) today made public its letter to Mayor Anthony Williams and the DC Council asking them to withdraw the District of Columbia's own taxpayer-financed stadium bid and instead provide residents a long overdue tax cut. NTU has 350,000 members nationwide and more than 1,000 in DC.

"If stadium supporters are really concerned with investing in Washington, DC and meeting the Mayor's goal of attracting 100,000 new residents, financing a new facility with tax dollars is not the answer," NTU Director of Government Affairs Paul Gessing stated. "What citizens deserve are the tax cuts they were promised in January of 2002."

In a letter sent this week to Mayor Williams and Members of the City Council, Gessing pointed out that "Major League Baseball needs the District more than the District needs baseball." Since, according to Gessing, DC is "one of the largest and wealthiest markets in the country," the windfall from a team's enhanced economic prospects here ought to be able to finance a stadium without a forced contribution from taxpayers.

Gessing's diagnosis that tax cuts are a better alternative and are critical to a population boom is backed by noted economist (and NTU Board Member) Richard Vedder, who determined that over 2.8 million Americans moved from states that taxed income to states that did not during the 1990s (DC has one of the most burdensome income tax systems in the nation).

Other important findings appeared in a study Gessing authored for NTU's research affiliate that examined the impact of a taxpayer-backed baseball facility in DC or Northern Virginia. He found that most economic assessments by stadium proponents fail to differentiate between gross and net benefits. For example, any jobs "created" by stadium concessions must be weighed against those lost as a result of displaced businesses, or shifts in consumer expenditures from other entertainment venues (not to mention lost property tax revenues for the District).

"Some DC residents might be initially enthusiastic about baseball, but their love of the game is sure to dwindle once they comprehend the enormous cost to taxpayers Mayor Williams' proposal entails," Gessing concluded. "While the idea of a publicly-financed stadium hasn't struck out yet, it is only a matter of time before taxpayers cry 'Foul!'"

NTU is a grassroots citizens' organization founded in 1969 to work for lower taxes, less wasteful spending, and accountable government. Note: Gessing's letter to Mayor Williams, and Gessing's study, NTU Foundation Issue Brief 142, Baseball in the Nation's Capital: Games with Tax Dollars, are available online at http://www.ntu.org.