Matthew Russell: “It is official: the Oakland Raiders are moving to Las Vegas. Beginning in 2020, they will play in a shiny, new…”

“It is official: the Oakland Raiders are moving to Las Vegas. Beginning in 2020, they will play in a shiny, new 65,000-seat stadium outfitted with a retractable roof that is expected to cost $1.9 billion. If you are an American taxpayer, you will help pay for it, even if you live nowhere near Nevada. About $750 million for the project will be financed through municipal bonds, which are tax exempt. The Federal tax break is projected to amount to some $120 million, according to a study by the Brookings Institution. Congress and President Trump should take the Raiders' bad example as an impetus for reform. As the President considers a $1 trillion plan to restore America's aging roads, rail, bridges, waterways, and airports, lawmakers should ask why so many stadiums are following the Las Vegas model, fleeing one bad economic State and using your tax dollars to go to another. The alternative is what we did in Oklahoma City in 1993. Our residents passed a temporary 1 percent increase in sales tax to fund, without incurring a debt, a building spree called the Metropolitan Area Projects, or MAPS. Over 5 years, the plan raised $350 million for nine projects, including a stadium now called the Chesapeake Energy Arena, home to NBA basketball's Oklahoma City Thunder. This pay-as-you-go approach may sound unremarkable, but it is nothing short of exceptional.…”