Quote:
Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle
People act as though "corporate welfare" is not a common practice. The government through numerous ways (tax breaks, subsidies, ect..) actively encourage businesses to locate and operate in this city and province all the time because it's good for the economy of the region.
It's just very few of these things are as above board and noticeable or as scrutinized as a new arena for a hockey team. Back in the Klein days, they literally branded the tax reduction / subsidy program that gave big enterprise business tax breaks and exemptions the "Alberta Advantage". Don't kid your self, this stuff happens all the time with for profit businesses and is a key pillar of our local economy.
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Tax breaks are one thing, but are there good examples of government directly subsidizing buildings to be used by private companies? Worth mentioning too is that public money spent on sports franchises has been demonstrated to provide about the worst economic value of all public spending. That money doesn't typically get paid back in things like increased tax revenue, job creation, and a good chunk of it leaves the community. The only real value is the mostly intangible value a sports franchise brings to the community.
The whole economics of sports is so distasteful. The most simplistic way to look at it is why should tax payers have to pay higher taxes so that 20 hockey players can make 70 million per year instead of having the team pay for their own building and paying the players 50 million a year. I have no issue with a hockey player making 10 million a year if that's what the public is willingly paying towards that entertainment. I do have a problem when 2-3 million of that comes from taxes that we are forced to pay (not to mention the $60 a year every cable subscriber pays for the RSN that 80-90% of them don't even watch).
But each city is not a vacuum and they have to compete against the other cities who are willing to subsidize their buildings. I just wish all the levels of government would get together and agree to stop this madness.