Cincinnati Council voted Wednesday to change some of the rules for admissions taxes in an effort to increase city revenue.
"We think about the success of the Bengals, we think about Taylor Swift coming to town — as these online retailers grow, it's important that we are adding to our General Fund as a result," said Council Member Meeka Owens.
The city charges a 3% tax for things like concert and sporting event tickets. The admissions tax also applies if the ticket is re-sold to someone else, but compliance is really low, meaning the city loses out on that tax income.
The ordinance approved Wednesday makes re-seller platforms like Stubhub and Seat Geek legally responsible for withholding the appropriate tax, instead of the individual person selling a ticket.
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Assistant City Manager Billy Webber says there's no good estimate on how much more money will come in.
"We really don't have data from the these marketplace facilitators on the level of activity and the amount changed from that initial sale to subsequent sales, and even subsequent sales on top of those original sales," Webber told a Council committee Monday. "We need to get this in place so that we can start seeing what revenue this brings in, and that will then allow us to make more accurate projections for our upcoming fiscal year."
The city expects to get $8.7 million from the admissions tax this fiscal year, which ends June 30. That includes Taylor Swift's two sold-out concerts at Paycor Stadium last summer; it's a particularly interesting case study given that the secondary market for Swift's Eras Tour had resale tickets for more than ten times the original cost, according to a CBS News report.
The admissions tax is staying at 3%, and it only applies to the difference between the original ticket price and the resale price.
State law requires exemptions for government events and nonprofits like the Cincinnati Zoo and Symphony. That also includes sporting events at public universities, which means no admissions tax for a ticket to see a University of Cincinnati game, even though there is a tax for sporting events at Xavier University.
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The changes approved this week require regular applications for those with exemption status. Some events hosted by an exempt organization are still subject to the admissions tax, like if a portion of the proceeds will go to a non-exemption person or organization.
The changes will go into effect April 1.
Learn more below with a presentation to City Council's Budget and Finance Committee:
