At the first hearing for the “End Discriminatory State Taxes for Automobile Renters Act of 2011,” or H.R. 2469, the Sports Fan Coalition attended in support of the legislation, citing that team owners often “prey on fan loyalty in order to manipulate massive public subsidies toward private coffers using tools such as car rental excise taxes,” said Brian Fredrick, Coalition executive director.

At the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law on Feb. 1, Fredrick said that the taxes imposed at local levels on the rental industry have become a “glorified real estate scam,” citing projects in which citizens and tourists have been paying fees and taxes for stadiums that still haven’t been built.

As well, team owners often “play cities off one another, threatening to uproot teams from their fan bases and move them to a new city in order to get the public to approve hundreds of millions of dollars for new stadiums,” Fredrick said. “Once the stadiums are built, owners raise ticket prices and black out the games if fans don’t buy tickets.”

Also at the hearing in support of H.R. 2469 included the Global Business Travel Association and the National Consumers League.

There to present and speak against the legislation was a spokesperson on behalf of the National Association of Cities, National Association of Counties, U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Government Finance Officers Association.

To see the full hearing video, click on the URL: http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/Hearings%202012/hear_02012012_2.html