Monday, November 29, 2021

Will THIS Lead To Atlantic City's Demise?

Our friend Atlantic City Councilman Jesse Kurtz has written a compelling op-ed in The Press of Atlantic City about a law that may have been enacting with good intentions but now threatens the well being of the legendary shore town. Here's an excerpt:
It is time to dissolve the casino PILOT, not make it worse. The Casino PILOT bill is a form of corporate welfare. Casino gambling is authorized in our state constitution only in Atlantic City for the express purpose of revitalizing our local economy.
Online gambling needs to support the constitutional goal of redeveloping our city. The current effort to change the Casino PILOT is completely tone-deaf. This is a time to regulate online gambling to ensure more in-person visits to Atlantic City. This is not a time to cut taxes for online gambling, which would be an economic incentive for casinos to undermine the hospitality industry.
The current PILOT gives casinos a degree of property tax stability that regular residential and commercial taxpayers do not enjoy. The casino industry is making more money now than they ever have. This last quarter was a record quarter for the casino industry.
The initial Casino PILOT bill was created in the context of a casino market where multiple casino properties were closing and the property tax ratable base was in a freefall. It was a bad situation. Today’s casino gaming market is click here to read more.

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