As part of an effort to help bring one of the two available MLS expansion teams to Portland in 2010, Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson was in Salem on Tuesday to speak to the Oregon Legislature about a bill that would "divert state income taxes generated by players' salaries toward the proposed renovation of PGE Park," an issue that has been a hot one within the city for years.
According The Oregonian, "House Bill 2531 is a rewrite of a 2003 law that would have used up to $150 million in income taxes on Major League Baseball players for stadium construction" but reminds us, of course, that "Major League Baseball never made it to Portland."
The plan would entail around $5 million being re-allocated from some $22 million in income taxes "generated over 30 years by Major League Soccer players," but as Paulson conceded, "It's a chicken and egg thing. Those salaries are not here unless the team is here to begin with."
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