Mark S scribed, in part:
As for folks who are not baseball/Twins fans who have a problem with this
proposal, I guess my response is tough cookies. We all pay out plenty of
tax
dollars for stuff that we don't necessarily agree with or personally
benefit
from. Go shop in Ramsey or Anoka if it's that big a deal to you...just
realize that just the gas you use will probably leave you out a lot more
than the 3 cents from the ballpark tax.
<<<<<
If the stadium happens I won't stop paying my taxes, nor will I leave town
in a fit, nor will I design my shopping habits around taxes. I will also
continue to be friends and neighbors with folks who might disagree with me
about "the stadium."
Tolstoy said that "government is violence." Indeed. Much of my taxes go to
things I think they ought not to be spent on. Too little of my taxes go to
things I really believe they need to be spent on. "Tough cookies?" Yes. I
continue to engage on many levels to make positive change.
The stadium tax proponents have not answered any of the objections to the
stadium tax, that I can see.
1. We ought not to spend tax money on this when there are a number of more
pressing uses of tax dollars -- from public safety to health care to
education to sustainable urban infrastructure.
2. Tax money ought not to go for "corporate welfare" subsidies. Consumers
must pay the true cost of some goods and services -- whether that is airline
tickets or baseball tickets. Huge corporate subsidies tend to bloat the
favored recipients and further distort their already disproportionate local
economic and political power and influence (witness NWA). Interestingly,
free marketeers seem blind to the reality of corporate welfare as an unwise
market intervention.
3. The professional sports entertainment industry is bloated with money as
it is. Because it is so heavily subsidized, salaries of executives and some
players are more easily kept at absurd levels. The league monopolies act to
extort subsidies from cities far beyond any provable economic benefit to
those cities. This must stop.
4. Baseball is not about the Twins or about professional sports
entertainment. I would gladly support a tax to enhance the richest programs
of youth sports in our parks we can imagine. The staffing of such programs
could provide very meaningful permanent employment for many people and could
help our cities' youth to grow stronger and more mature as they learn to
play team and individual sports. Of course, we need not limit such programs
to sports. What a better way to spend my tax dollars!
I'm off to go camping overnight with a couple of busloads of 2nd and 3rd
graders! Wish me luck...I hope the weather stays relatively dry...
--pedaling for peace and ecojustice -- from Lynnhurst -- Gary Hoover
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