4.28.23 - Madison Square Garden’s $42M tax break stays put in new state budget
' Madison Square Garden’s $42 million-a-year tax break will stay put after Senate Democrats failed to get their desired repeal into the state budget, said state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who had pushed for the change.
The Garden has paid no property taxes on its prime Midtown location since 1982, when the Legislature enacted the abatement to prevent the Knicks and Rangers from moving to New Jersey. That perpetual arrangement has cost the city $916 million in lost revenue in those four decades, according to the Independent Budget Office.
In recent months, momentum grew to repeal the abatement, thanks to a confluence of related issues: MSG owner James Dolan's use of facial recognition technology to keep out his perceived enemies, and the debate over whether to grant the Garden another operating permit.
In March the Senate formally called for the first time for MSG's tax break to be repealed. But the Assembly did not match that demand, and Gov. Kathy Hochul would not back it either.
"I know how important the Garden is to the city," she said last month.
Hochul’s office would not comment on the MSG abatement, saying details would emerge once budget bills are finalized next week.
MSG Entertainment has long insisted it gets no special treatment, pointing to the hefty public subsidies given to the city's other sports venues.
But a memorandum last month by the Independent Budget Office undercut those claims, highlighting the fact MSG's tax break will last forever unless the Legislature repeals it, while the city's deals with Yankee Stadium, Citi Field and Barclays Center still force those venues to make payments in lieu of taxes. '
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