The Observation Deck

Fitzgerald is backing efforts to make the 15 year sin tax a permanent taxpayer subsidy of 3 major sports franchises in Cleveland. Apparently the teams cannot survive without the subsidy.

During the recent NBA lockout the County had to pay millions to support the Q. That news didn't make the Plain Dealer did it? What else aren't they reporting?

Explain to me again how institutions that cannot survive without a taxpayer subsidy are economic engines?

Unless I'm mistaken, this will require a public vote.

I'll be curious to see how they (the political establishment & the three franchises) try to sell this to the public.

Unless they are idiots, they will use Cavs owner Dan Gilbert as the face of their campaign. He is by far the most popular of the local owners. Browns management is immensely incompetent, and the Indians ownership is hated for being too frugal.

The Indians are the team most hungry for tax dollars. They realize that they cannot compete against larger-TV market teams, so they will want millions of dollars in stadium upgrades. The Pittsburgh stadium is their template....the Pirates draw respectable crowds despite 19 straight losing seasons due to the beautiful stadium.

I expect to hear a lot of rumors in the next two or three years about the Indians being sold, with the implied threat of a franchise move. However, the threat is hollow, since there are no cities in North America capable of supporting an MLB franchise. If such a city existed, the Oakland A's would already be playing there.

Since 2008 Counties have been forbidden to pass new sin taxes. The beverage lobby had the language slipped into a budget bill.

Reading between the lines:

A lot of backroom deals will be made and a lot of money (tax) will be past around, favors will be granted, subtle changes in law will be made to give the key players a bigger piece of the action and the law will be changed to allow Cuyahoga County to continue the Sin Tax as an operating subsidy for the Cleveland Browns, Cavaliers and Indians.

A portion of the sin tax will be siphoned off for other "development" in Cleveland, money will be spent without accountability and the Plain Dealer will never report it.

That's one reason I'm not all that upset about Jimmy Dimora's free kitchen counter top. The outrage isn't that illegal behaviour is taking place; the outrage is what is legal.

Think of the new Avon baseball stadium. When the owners got their property tax bill they simply threw it away, contacted the right people in Columbus and just like magic they got a $10 million property tax cut.

Anyway:

No one has every answered this simple question:

Is the economic engine of Cuyahoga County the company that needs a taxpayer subsidy to survive or is the economic engine the company that pays the subsidy?

there ain't enough sin to go around.

we'll need a nickel tax on the coffees and sodas.

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This Henry Charles Carey guy is good at Economics.

"Good luck with what you're doin'".--Ramses Luther Smuckles.