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Two years after the IRS proposed tightening rules governing the use of tax-exempt bonds, officials have finally issued a ruling that comes as a huge relief to developer and Nets' owner Bruce Ratner, who has been counting on raising up to $800 million in tax-exempt bonds to pay for a new Brooklyn arena. Though the IRS ruling limits the way tax-exempt bonds can be used in the future, the regulation doesn't apply to "certain projects substantially in progress." That includes not just the Nets arena, but also the new Yankees and Mets stadiums, which are being built with more than $1 billion in tax-exempt bonds and will now take advantage of the ruling to issue more bonds, according to the Times.
Of course, the Times also points out the obvious: These New York teams may be hard-pressed to find investors who will buy the bonds, given the current Wall Street turbulence. Not so incidentally, the ruling comes four days before Yankees president Randy Levine and city officials are expected to testify at a Congressional hearing investigating the tax-exempt financing of the new $1.3 billion Yankee Stadium. Representative Dennis Kucinich, who is holding the hearing Friday, has threatened to prosecute officials if they lied about the value of the land the new stadium occupies.
State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a Westchester Democrat, slammed the IRS decision, telling the Times and the AP, "This is the same kind of socialism for the rich, and capitalism for the rest of us that’s gotten us into the current economic mess...The rules don't apply if you've got enough juice." The groundbreaking for the arena will still be delayed at least six months by a lawsuit challenging the project's use of eminent domain to evict residents. And Daniel Goldstein, spokesman for Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, insists the ruling does not let Ratner use the tax-exempt bonds, because the Atlantic Yards project was not "substantially in progress" before October 19, 2006, the cut-off date for the IRS tax-exempt loophole.
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oh, good.
There was probably some quid pro quo here, that is the way these things work.
Atlantic yards didn't even exist before Oct.19 2006.So anyone can make a pretty drawing and then retroactively apply for tax-free bonding?
Let's hear from the people who vilify people on gothamist regarding rent stabilization rationalize this - another economic break for the billionaires.
a bit late to review the absolute bullshit that is evicting residents citing eminent domain for a Fucking Arena.... but yeh, let's review it and realize it for the crock of shit it is.
Times like this I wonder if NY Press still does it's "Top 50 Most Despicable New Yorkers" ...Ratner makes #1 on that list, no?
the rich can't lose. They control the thing that makes the rules. Don't own the land, use emminent domain to get it. Can't get money to build it, get the govt to not collect taxes on the bonds. Make risky bad investments but instead of losing money you get the govt to step in and buy them from you.
Rich and poor, equal among the law, my ass.
Ratner rattus rattus.
With Il Douche Bloomberg pulling the strings, we get to hand over our homes, hundreds of millions dollars to Ratner, the Steinbrenners, and any other rich fuck; along with hizzoner overturning term limits, when the referendums didn't work for him anymore.
Bloomberg and his band of thieves needs to be thrown in jail. Forever.