Texas tackles a ticket tax
TEXT OF STORYBOB MOON: Texas may soon be the latest state to require steroid testing of high school athletes. Lawmakers are arguing not over whether it’s a good idea to subject teenagers to random drug tests, the scrap is about who should pay for it. Jill Barshay reports.
JILL BARSHAY: The Texas State House wants to authorize a new fee on high school football and basketball games.
Now, this is Texas, where football is religion. Opponents call it a ticket tax.
D.W. Rutledge is head of the Texas High School Coaches Association. He prefers a Senate version, which would pay for testing with taxpayer dollars. He says a ticket tax may not raise enough cash, and parents could end up footing the bill.
D.W. RUTLEDGE: We don’t want the kids that are from financially-challenged families not to have the opportunity to play athletics because they can’t afford it.
Texas law maker Dan Flynn wrote the ticket fee bill.
DAN FLYNN: What is the cost of an athletic event, a sporting event that’s a volunteer program? Should they not be self-funding?
Flynn says 25 cents from each ticket would be enough to raise the $4.5 million needed for steroid testing. He’s negotiating with his Senate counterpart this week.
In Los Angeles, I’m Jill Barshay for Marketplace.
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