Taxing Players Hurts Competitive Advantage

I once suggested (sorry, couldn’t find the link to prove it) that Vikings fans that would truly be willing to give up something significant to see their team remain in Minnesota should send the Wilf family a letter asking them to auction off their Draft picks for cash as a means to help pay for a new stadium.  In the letter, the fan would pledge to buy five years worth of season tickets no matter how poorly the team ended up being as a result.

That was an outrageous idea that would never happen, but Republican Representative Mike Benson has promised to try and remove gambling aspects from the Vikings stadium bill and replace it with a funding mechanism that could hurt the team’s competitive advantage.

In addition to taxes targeting game day fans at the stadium, Benson proposes a 4% tax on the players and executives that make more than $200,000 per year.

It really isn’t an unreasonable thought, but this could have a negative impact on the Vikings when bidding on players in free agency.  If a player gets an offer from the Vikings, they will always be reminded by their agents that 4% of their checks will be heading elsewhere.

The idea seems to be popular amongst Republicans at the State level.

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