Tax-Exempt Municipal Bonds and the Financing of Professional Sports Stadiums

Austin J. Drukker, Ted Gayer and Alexander K. Gold

National Tax Journal, 2020, vol. 73, issue 1, 157-196

Abstract: This paper examines the role of federal tax subsidies in the form of preferences granted for bonds that state and local governments issue to finance the construction of professional sports stadiums. We examine 57 stadiums built since 2000, 43 of which were funded, at least in part, with federal tax expenditures in the form of tax-exempt municipal bonds. We estimate that the present value subsidy to the bond issuers was $3.6 billion and the total revenue loss to the federal government was $4.3 billion. We conclude with suggested reforms to reduce or eliminate this inefficient subsidy for professional sports stadiums.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.17310/ntj.2020.1.05 (text/html)
Access is restricted to subscribers and members of the National Tax Association.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ntj:journl:v:73:y:2020:i:1:p:157-196

Access Statistics for this article

National Tax Journal is currently edited by Stacy Dickert-Conlin and William M. Gentry

More articles in National Tax Journal from National Tax Association, National Tax Journal Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by The University of Chicago Press ().