Austin’s F1 Track Could Benefit From the ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Bill
The Circuit of the Americas track. COTA may reap tax benefits that were quietly extended in the "fiscal cliff" bill. Photo via flickr.com/acousticdimensionsThe brawl over, and eventual passage of, the so-called fiscal cliff bill reverberated across the county. But here’s one provision in Congress’ action that has specific resonance for Central Texas: extension of the “NASCAR loophole” providing public benefit to racetrack builders. And it looks like Austin’s Formula 1-hosting racetrack, the Circuit of the Americas [COTA], stands to benefit.
It’s called accelerated depreciation, and gives COTA a fast, seven-year write off on the value of their investment, which may have been as much as $400 million.
COTA officials says they’re pleased to have the tax break, but say they did not lobby for it. “We did monitor the issue as it moved forward, but were not directly involved in pursuing the extension itself,” says spokesperson Ali Putnam.
Michael Cramer runs the Texas Program in Sports and Media at UT. He says it’s important to understand how this tax break is funded. “Effectively what’s happening is the federal government, and you and me, are helping to pay for that track,” he says, “and there’s the rub.”
Cramer believes that COTA’s Formula 1 race brings big benefits to Austin, and to Texas, and adds that the $29 million payment to COTA from Texas’ special events trust fund was probably a good investment. (That money comes from related sales taxes collected during the event in November.) But Cramer’s not sure about more public money going to the track.
“Should it happen?” he asks. “Probably the federal government shouldn’t be subsidizing these things.”
Cramer, who once co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team and served as team president, says that almost every industry in America gets some sort of special tax break. Circuit of the Americas says it doesn’t know just how much this tax break will save the track on its federal taxes.
