Some Kansas lawmakers see a chance to lure the Chiefs and Royals across the Missouri border, but an effort to help the teams finance new stadiums in the state fizzed over concerns about how it might look to taxpayers.
TOPEKA, Kan. -- Some Kansas lawmakers see a chance to lure Kansas City's two biggest professional sports teams across the Missouri border, but an effort to help the Super Bowl championMembers of the Republican-controlled Legislature pushed a bill Tuesday that would have allowed Kansas officials to authorize at least $1 billion in bonds to cover the entire cost of building each new stadium, paying the debt off with tax revenues generated in the area over 30 years.
The bill's biggest champion, Kansas House Commerce Committee Chair Sean Tarwater, a Kansas City-area Republican, said supporters want to give the two professional sports teams another option should they contemplate leaving Kansas City, which he said would be devastating to both states.Kelly and her staff signaled Tuesday that she is likely to veto the last tax package lawmakers approved, cutting income, sales and property taxes by a total of almost $1.5 billion over the next three years.
"It was just a concern of running it before we gave real tax relief to our constituents -- kind of that juxtaposed look of what appears to be corporate welfare before you're getting tax relief to the people," Masterson said after deciding against having a Senate vote. "We'll be in a situation where we go back to the drawing board," Chiefs owner Clark Hunt told reporters last week."I do feel very much a sense of urgency, and we will approach it from a broader perspective going forward."
Critics have long argued that allowing the bonds to finance big projects represents the state picking economic winners and losers instead of the free market. The same kind of bonds have financed multiple projects, including NASCAR's Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas.
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Lawmakers want the Chiefs and Royals to come to Kansas, but a stadium plan fizzledSome Kansas lawmakers see a chance to lure Kansas City’s two biggest professional sports teams across the Missouri border, but an effort to help the Super Bowl champion Chiefs and Major League Baseball’s Royals finance new stadiums in Kansas fizzed. Kansas legislators worried about how it might look to taxpayers.
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