Protect Illinois Taxpayers from Corporate Welfare

Don’t feed the Chicago Bears unnecessary tax handouts

No taxpayer dollars to the Chicago Bears!

Dear Official

- Arlington Park in Arlington Heights is a great location for the Chicago Bears to relocate to, but your constituents should not shoulder the costs of the move via corporate welfare handouts.
  
  Please protect taxpayers and STOP corporate welfare handouts.
  
  The Chicago Bears have already cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars when politicians decided to finance a Solider Field reconstruction project less than 20 years ago. If history is any lesson, it is highly likely the Bears will seek some sort of subsidy from state and local taxpayers again.
  
  We must protect state and local taxpayers against potential corporate welfare schemes which are unpopular, unfair, and damaging to the economy.
  
  An August 2021 poll by Americans for Prosperity Illinois revealed by a margin of 77% to 8% Illinoisans oppose corporate welfare for political insiders, and support providing a level playing field for all business.
  
  A 2017 poll conducted by the University of Chicago’s Initiative on Global Markets found 83 percent of the economists surveyed agreed, "Providing state and local subsidies to build stadiums for professional sports teams is likely to cost the relevant taxpayers more than any local economic benefits that are generated."
  
  The government should not be picking winners and losers in the economy by hiking taxes on some and giving those tax revenues to others. On the state and local level, officials should refrain from utilizing special taxing incentives like TIF districts, property and sales tax abatements or refunds, direct subsidies and forcing taxpayers to pay for infrastructure improvements requested by developers.
  
  I am writing to ask you to block corporate welfare programs which could negatively impact taxpayers in Arlington Heights and across the state.
- Arlington Park in Arlington Heights is a great location for the Chicago Bears to relocate to, but your constituents should not shoulder the costs of the move via corporate welfare handouts.
Sincerely

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With the Chicago Bears’ bid to purchase Arlington Park, the residents and taxpayers of Arlington Heights, IL, and the State of Illinois could be on the hook for corporate welfare subsidies.

The Chicago Bears previously convinced government officials to renovate Soldier Field via a $660 million project financed by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority—whose revenues come from hotel taxes—and a combined $10 million annual city and state subsidies.

Since 1997, NFL teams have constructed 22 new stadiums, receiving an average of $238 million in public funding per stadium and costing a total of $4.76 billion.

Corporate welfare is commonplace in professional sports, but it is wrong and shouldn’t happen again.

Lawmakers in the General Assembly, on both sides of the aisle, such as Rep. Joe Sosnowski and Rep. Bob Morgan, have put solutions forward that would protect taxpayers from corporate welfare schemes, not only in sports but across all industries in Illinois. These legislative changes would ensure states create a level playing field and protect taxpayers.

Please send this letter to your state and local legislators and ask them to protect taxpayers and stop corporate welfare handouts.