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Originally Posted by Schertz1
Really....do you actually believe F1 has a greater economic impact than the Super Bowl? The All-Star is debatable. The point is the State is laying-off teachers and other workers due to budget shortages, yet there is 25 million to support this venture. The public is growing tired of hand-outs to the rich....stadiums, tax breaks....etc. If this is viable the financial markets can and will support it. The reality is this race did not provide the anticipated impact in Indy.
F1 will have an impact on San Antonio too, so this is not a SA v. Austin thing.
Yes, the fund is for this type of event, but it is all State money. The budget should be fixed and priorities identified. F1 is not a priority, education is.
Let them use their tax breaks, that is why they got them!
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You say it is "State money" and for people all over the State. I would disagree that in how it is being used. To me it looks like it is money for DFW, SA, and Houston only. Austin received $3 million from my quick count. There are many event on there that got over $3 million on their own. San Antonio got over $45 million, DFW hell of a lot more than that, and I didn't bother counting Houston but it looks to have had a lot too.
I even see that one of the 4 types of fund on there is for purely motor sports. How does the F1 Grand Prix not fall under that? For that matter shouldn't it be even broadened to include the MotoGP as well as that is why the fund exist? The Motor Sports Racing Trust Fund says it is there for automobile racing events sanctioned by the US Automobile Competition Committee. Does the world championships for exactly that not count?
If this was to have been proposed anywhere other than Austin there would be no question that the fund would be used.
Anyway, I saw in the House bill that they plan on enlarging the bill to include not only this but more events in Austin. So I'm sure when they combine the two bills it will survive and it should be interesting to see what of the rest of the proposed Austin events survive. If for some reason it doesn't survive then they just need to get rid of this fund entirely. Just trash it, because it would be clear it is there for no other reason than for politicians to get their pockets filled.