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Time
to reinstate pari-mutuel betting tax
Apr.
19, 2003
From The Arizona Republic
The
study on the racing industry's contribution to the state economy
omitted relevant statistics ("Racing fees would hurt
state, official says," Business, April 11)
Tim
Hogan, director of the Center for Business Research, Arizona
State University, who authored the $12,000 economic impact
study paid for by Turf Paradise and Phoenix Greyhound Park,
failed to include the fact that the dog and horse tracks,
multimillion-dollar cash businesses, have paid little or no
pari-mutuel taxes to the state in the last six years, despite
record earnings.
In
1994, Senate Bill 1373, a mega-tax break bill designed to
bail out the failing greyhound racing industry, passed without
debate at 2 a.m. on the last day of the legislative session.
This legislation has cost the state a minimum of $70 million
in lost tax revenue and poured tens of millions of dollars
into the pockets of the out-of-state track owners.
Tucson
Greyhound Park, owned and operated by two Floridians, was
the first track to reap the benefits of SB 1373. According
to Arizona Department of Racing Annual Reports, the Tucson
track made its last pari-mutuel tax payment to the state in
1996, a paltry $55,284 on gross revenues (before purse payouts)
of $5.3 million. In the past six fiscal years, the Tucson
track has not paid a dime to the state despite total gross
revenues of more than $28 million.
Phoenix
and Apache Greyhound Parks are owned by Delaware North based
in Buffalo, N.Y., one of the largest privately held corporations
in the United States. Phoenix Greyhound Park grossed $16.1
million in revenue in fiscal year 2002, yet paid only $162,
651 in pari-mutuel taxes. The Apache Junction dog track grossed
$9.5 million in revenue between fiscal years 1997-2002. The
track's last tax payment to the state was $55, 641 in 1998.
Turf
Paradise, the horse track in north Phoenix owned by a Californian,
had gross revenues of $135.3 million for fiscal years 1997
to 2002; total taxes paid to the state: $2.7 million.
The
article stated, "the impetus for the report was to head
off any new fees or taxes on the industry," in response
to the governor's proposal to eliminate the 2004 bare-bones
budget for the department of racing and recommendation that
the industry fund its own regulation.
The
Joint Legislative Budget Committee should take a hard look
at the real numbers for this industry, not the ridiculously
inflated statistics cited in the economic impact study.
The
funding solution for the racing department is simple: Repeal
SB 1373 and reinstate the pre-1994 tax rate for the pari-mutuel
industry.
Joan
Eidinger
Editor of Greyhound
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