Talk of hotel tax hike has Mary Kay seeing red

Fort Worth Star Telegram ^ | January 29, 2004 | Eva-Marie Ayala

[PAR35]

Mary Kay vs. Jerry Jones.

[dfwgator]

I must say, good for Mary Kay. If the rich corporate execs want their nice skyboxes let them pay for it.

[2banana]

If approved by voters, Dallas' hotel tax rate would rise from 15 percent to what officials said would be the highest in the nation at 18 percent.

I will never understand why the average citizen has to fund a multi-million dollar stadium so that multimillionaire football players can chase an oblonged ball down a field and charge the average citizen through the nose to watch the event.

[elli1]

Good to see some muscled & vocal opposition to these confiscatory hotel & motel taxes.

[taxcontrol]

One definition of football:

22 men who desperately need a rest being watched by 80,000 fans who desperately need exercise.

[Sgt_Schultze]

The fairer approach would be for the City to impose an extra hotel tax on the 8 days the Stadium will be in use. They could also assess the spectators a 30% tax on the admission price of their ticket. My guess is Jerry Jones would object because he would fear a loss of attendance due to excessive prices. Good for Mary Kay letting Dallas know there are more businesses in town than the NFL.

[You Dirty Rats]

Hotel & Motel taxes are taxation without representation. It's just a way to shakedown visitors to cities, who can't vote.

[dfwgator]

It's just a way to shakedown visitors to cities, who can't vote.

Oh they'll vote alright...with their dollars.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

Absolutely agreed. I find hotel taxes to be among the most egregious shakedowns there are. Hotels undoubtedly already pay property taxes to the county where they are sited to pay for the services used. There is no justification for these taxes other than to gouge the traveler who is supposedly coming to the town to spend money anyway.

[q_an_a]

53,000 women for 3 seperate meetings. 9 days with 53,000 paying visitors. that is almost the same as the cowboys produce and we don't need to worry about a 600,000 million dollar building. looks like someone needs a math lesson.

as a matter of fact they use the convention center and they use thousands of hotel rooms which are not used during a cowboy game. I think the pink ladies do more for the city than the cowboys.

[anymouse]

Ping for Texas entrepreneurs fighting back against the tax Nazis.

[mywholebodyisaweapon]

If Dallas could only tax stupidity, it would break Jerry Jones and balance its budget in the same stroke.

[Republicus2001]

yea if it's such a great investment and helps the economy so much then why don't the fatcats instead of the taxpayers pay for it...

[dfwgator]

It don't matter to Jerry, he'll eventually find another sucker, I mean city, that will kowtow to him.

[Alberta's Child]

The fairer approach would be for the City to impose an extra hotel tax on the 8 days the Stadium will be in use.

The fairest approach of all would be to have the stadium's tenants pay sufficient rent on the damned thing to pay it off.

One of the major (though relatively unheralded) factors in Jesse Ventura's victory in the governor's race in Minnesota a few years ago was his steadfast opposition to the use of public funds to build venues for the state's professional sports teams. His most effective campaign slogan in that regard: "If the Minnesota Timberwolves can sign players to $100 million contracts, then they can pay for their own arena."

[mywholebodyisaweapon]

Yeah, you're right. Jones is stupid like a fox.

[Orbiting_Rosie's_Head]

If I were Mary Kay, I would tell Dallas that not only will they not raise the hotel tax, they will lower it to the 12% charged in Grapevine or the conventions will move to the Gaylord center.

[Wallace T.]

Socialism stinks as much on the municipal level as it does on the state or Federal levels. Why does the taxpayer have to certain forms of entertainment, such as professional sports and "public" TV? As much as I despise the content and news reporting of the major networks and the liberal newspapers and magazines, at least they don't try to steal my money. If Michael Eisner and Rupert Murdoch can keep their hands out of my pockets, so should Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban (owner of the Dallas NBA franchise).

[azhenfud]

Don't be surprised to hear the Texas state legislature jumping into the fray, if it's a proposal to raise taxes. Then, Mary will just have to go to Oklahoma.

[Orange1998]

The Cowboys would like to use recent legislation that allows Dallas County to levy additional taxes on car rentals and hotel rooms to help pay for a proposed $1 billion stadium complex.

Much more to the story than what is told. Houston raised hotel taxes and car rental tax saying "Local citizens will not have to pay for the tax". Only to find out later that any rental is taxed including equipment rental.

Some Examples:

1. Homeowner rents a carpet cleaning machine: pay for the statium tax.

2. Hire a contractor to build your house and he rent heavy equipment: pay the stadium tax.

3. Have a auto accident or car stolen. The insurance company pays the stadium tax and included the cost into insurance rates.