Fiscal 2023 DIF Account

on
1

Why Doesn't The WooSox Pay Real Estate Taxes???

on

Restaurant downtown pays real estate taxes  in the space they lease at city owned parking garage.


Restaurant pays real estate taxes in the space they lease at city owned Union Station.






***  Instead of relying on $90 plus million in private development maybe we simply should have had the tenant pay real estate taxes on a $165,000,000 investment??   

Comments

Anonymous said…
Who in the City makes the call who pays taxes and who does not? The City Manager, the Assessor, the Treasurer ? I would like to send whoever it is an an email and get an answer because this has been a question for quite some time. When I originally read about this I sent this question to my Councilor but never received an answer.
August 9, 2022 at 3:41 PM
Anonymous said…
It is probably the City Council. The approve the tax rate and the tax reduction deals. It would explain why you did not hear back.
August 10, 2022 at 12:36 PM
Anonymous said…
I’ve explained this before. The city can only assess real estate taxes on an interest in real estate, like owning or having a lease. A lease is a taxable interest even though the underlying property (land and stadium) is not taxable because the city owns it.

So, to escape paying real estate taxes the team structures it’s occupancy as something other than a lease. Each of the concessions can be a concession contract to perform the service of selling food and drinks. That’s. Not an interest in real estate.

The team itself could have some other kind of contract, like the provision of AAA baseball and also a management services contract. Neither would be a taxable interest in real estate.

The problem would be that the city allowed that to be structured that way to escape taxes. This is especially galling when the city tries to go after concessions in non taxable properties like college campuses and hospitals. If a Burger King is a concession at WPI (it is) some city councilors have expressed outrage that they aren’t paying real estate taxes u( on top of the personal,propertyntaxes, dozens of license fees , inspection fees, fire alarm fees, sewer I,pact fees etc etc et c). Where are those same city councilors on the ballpark not paying taxes?

Crickets with a heaping side of hypocrisy.
August 11, 2022 at 6:10 AM
Anonymous said…
As to the previous comment, what was executed is a lease, not a concession agreement. Thus we we go full circle to the original question of why aren't the WooSox paying taxes?
August 11, 2022 at 8:28 AM
Post a Comment