Audit: Scant Proof of Event Fund's Tax Impact

For more than a decade, Texas has dangled tens of millions of dollars in incentives to entice events like Formula 1 racing, cutting horse competitions, the Super Bowl and Final Four college basketball to the state.

But money from the Major Events Trust Fund — long run by the state comptroller but recently moved to Gov. Greg Abbott's office — has been spent on things it probably shouldn't, and no one's done a great job of testing whether the state gets a good return on its investment, a new audit has found.

The audit released Thursday by State Auditor John Keel, examined performance of the Major Events Trust Fund from its inception in fiscal 2010 through January 2015. The fund uses incremental tax receipts — the extra sales, beverage and hotel occupancy taxes presumably generated when people flock to Texas for an event — to pay some of the expenses of putting on a car race, basketball game or whatever the event might be.

Keel's audit examined seven major events picked from among the biggest, most expensive or highest profile hosted by the state. The events include the 2011 Super Bowl XLV, the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 National Cutting Horse Association Triple Crown, the 2012, 2013 and 2014 Formula One United States Grand Prix and the 2013 NBA All Star Game.

Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/09/10/major-events-trust-fund-audit-reveals-improvement-/