Week 5: Taxes on Risk Taking and Wealth with Special Focus on Property Taxes

St. Louis MLS group makes stadium progress, remains optimistic about port district

This is more of a personal one for me. I am a born and raised St. Louisan, and I played soccer for a long time. The MLS is coming to St. Louis and the new stadium will of course demand tax incentives – of the type we discussed in class. While the majority of the project will be privately financed, the legislation discussed in the article outlines public incentives available to the professional soccer franchise. They include partial tax abatement, sales tax exemption on construction materials, amusement tax abatement and special taxing districts that would impose a 1% sales tax. Interestingly, a “port district” is being proposed to expand the reach of the Port Authority to include the stadium area. This would allow for a 1% tax to be levied.