Hail to the Chiefs

No sales tax, no property tax, no income tax

Legislative bodies tend to group all of the significant legislation for the end of session. The last full week of the legislature finished on Friday night. If your pocketbook or savings account feels a little safer it is because our budget, while not perfect, was austere enough that you will not see any tax increases. In fact, some property tax reduction is likely headed your way. The feral cats of Kansas may not be reproducing, but you can look forward to the influx of professional football into our great state.

The Kansas City Chiefs are my favorite sports team of all time. The management of the team has brought, and I believe will continue to bring amazing talent into the organization. The acquisition of a league-leading running back should add a dimension to the offense that needs bolstering. The legislature finalized a deal to build a nearly $4B stadium to lure the Chiefs into their namesake state. Without my vote, the legislature decided against all better judgement that owning a sports stadium that will generate no revenue for our state was a good idea. In case you are wondering how we went from two years ago saying that the Hunt family would own the stadium to the new agreement, let me explain.

Football stadiums in general are not a great investment. The cost of a stadium is so large and the revenue generated by a relatively small number of events makes for a likely money losing scenario. When the initial deal was forged two years ago, the idea was hatched that the sales tax revenue from the stadium revenues would easily pay for its construction.  The legislature was not told that the NFL forbids sales tax on ticket sales and possibly everything else sold in the stadium. The only way to capture the necessary sales tax was to create a huge district with significant new investment that would produce the sales tax. Even with all of the incentives, the Chiefs decided that if they had to pay property or corporate income tax the deal would not work. The solution was for the State of Kansas to own the stadium. This perfect solution ensured that Kansas will not only collect no sales tax, but also no property tax on a $4B stadium, and no income tax for the operation of it. One can hardly imagine an economic initiative that would be less helpful to our state’s struggling economy.

In fairness to those dreaming of sugarplums, there will be construction jobs (although they don’t have to be Kansas employees), ancillary investment, and of course the income taxes from the players if they are not smart enough to protect it. Kansas has a top income tax rate of 5.58%. A quick calculation would indicate that over $70,000,000,000 of unprotected salary would be needed to generate the $4B cost of the stadium. As Kansans, we can certainly have reason to encourage the Chiefs to spend more money on their payroll.

In case you are wondering, I still am a huge fan of the greatest football team in the NFL. The leadership of the Hunt family is fantastic and their ability to negotiate contracts should continue to provide success for the team. As a senator, I represent the people of the 24^th district specifically and Kansas in general. The deal presented to us was unacceptable and therefore I was a no vote, not because I don’t like the Chiefs, but because I care about the economic health of our state. The dying small towns of Kansas will not be helped by a showcase event in far eastern Kansas. As our leadership touts this as the “greatest economic development” in the history of our state, one can only wonder about all of the lesser opportunities the state has invested in.  Or all of the economic development opportunities throughout Kansas that the state has not invested in.