Comments on Advance Indiana™: Pence Skeptical On $100 Million Tax Giveaway To IMS

Lucky doesn't know his ax from a hole in the s...

2013-03-20T22:06:32.115-05:00

Lucky doesn't know his ax from a hole in the stump. Government's Constitutional charter isn't business- it's limited, to government.

Charlie, The State would be backing a loan that w...

2013-03-20T17:50:49.135-05:00

Charlie,

The State would be backing a loan that will be paid for by revenue that we are now allowing IMS to capture when IMS previously did not. It's quite the spin to suggest the IMS is paying back the loan.

It's nothing more than corporate welfare, money being taken from hard working men and women and handed over to the Hulman-George family.

If the IMS needs a loan there is a place that prov...

2013-03-20T17:21:05.487-05:00

If the IMS needs a loan there is a place that provides loans. It is called a Bank. The Government should not be providing loans to anyone!!!! The Government should not set up a taxing body like the CIB, to confiscate tax dollars to Build Stadiums for Billionaires!!!!

Hey, unluckycharlie, I've purchased tickets to...

2013-03-20T16:53:30.638-05:00

Hey, unluckycharlie, I've purchased tickets to every 500 since 1992, and I've attended the Brickyard and Formula races there as well. It isn't a loan that will be repaid by the IMS. There is up to $100 million in state tax dollars that will be diverted and will not be available to fund necessary and proper state expenditures. If they want this money, they can open up their books. What do you want to bet that the IMS declares a loss on its state tax returns? The DOR will do the same thing that is happening with the downtown sports district. They will simply say without any substantiation that $5 million is generated. It does this every year when it claims the downtown sports district generates $11 million in state tax revenues and gives it to the CIB when they know damn good and well that amount of revenues were never generated in the first place. I'm getting sick and tired of giving welfare to the state's wealthiest citizens, whether it's the Hulman-Georges, the Simons or the Irsays, while the state and local governments screw over ordinary people who labor to keep their head above water every which way they can. That is not the American way, and we're sick and tired of being taxed into servitude and paying tributes to a royal elite class of people who think they don't have to abide by the same laws that apply to the rest of us and sure as hell can get along just fine without a dime of our public dollars.

I'm not sure what is worse: Your misspelling ...

2013-03-20T16:38:52.985-05:00

I'm not sure what is worse: Your misspelling of "skeptical" in your post's title or the sensationalism you flavor it with by using the term, "giveaway".

Fisrt, it isn't a "giveaway," it is a loan as you very clearly state in the body of your article. It is also a rather safe loan, given the amount of revenue the IMS generates annually. Second, this is a very rare request from IMS as they are generally self-sufficient being privately owned and all.

While I don't want to assume too much about you, it would appear that you have spent very little time at the track and likely have not been to a race there, specifically the 500. Had you experienced that, you would understand why $100 million over 20 years is a very little amount of money compared to the income that the track will likely generate over that time frame. That is only the dollars and cents, though, and says nothing about the prestige of the race and the draw that brings racing fans back year after year for over a hundred years. It is what sets Indy apart from other cities. Lots of cities have football teams, basketball teams, etc. Only one city, however, has the greatest race course in all the world. We should do whatever we can to make sure that the track does not fall into disrepair as it did before the Hulman family rescued it. This loan would be a great start.