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June 13, 2008
Atlantic Yards Doomed If Ratner Can't Get More Corporate Tax Breaks
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
DDDB offers its take on the shocking news that the deep-pocketed owners of local pro sports franchises want more of your money.
The richest team in sports (the Yankees), and the billionaire developer of the most expensive basketball arena ever proposed (Forest City Ratner's arena for his Nets) want more money and the IRS to bend the rules*...for them.
...Forest City Ratner is desperately trying to lobby the Treasury Department in Washington (along with NYC, NY State and the Yankees) to waive an IRS regulation that would make it very difficult for Ratner to get the triple tax-free bond he desires for his billion dollar arena.
This begs the question: If Ratner/Steinbrenner succeed in getting a waiver, opening up an IRS loophole they want for their respective sportsplexes, what then would the IRS do when the next team from, let's say Chicago, wants triple-tax-free bonds for their new sportsplex? Where does the waiving stop? Will the United States government actually break its fiscally prudent regulations just for Bruce Ratner and George Steinbrenner?
*Neil DeMause explains the intricacies of the IRS regulations and what the Yankees and Nets would like to see waived over at the Village Voice.
Posted by eric at June 13, 2008 10:37 AM